From d9c23e7f5a9e8e07d3faab8fbc03f963137fd369 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: CrazyJasonwell Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2025 07:20:19 +0800 Subject: [PATCH] vault backup: 2025-10-09 07:20:19 --- .obsidian/plugins/cubox-sync/data.json | 2 +- .obsidian/plugins/rss-reader/data.json | 440 ------------------------- 2 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 441 deletions(-) diff --git a/.obsidian/plugins/cubox-sync/data.json b/.obsidian/plugins/cubox-sync/data.json index 024a0b73..72cb15c7 100644 --- a/.obsidian/plugins/cubox-sync/data.json +++ b/.obsidian/plugins/cubox-sync/data.json @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ "contentTemplate": "# {{{title}}}\n\n{{{description}}}\n\n[Read in Cubox]({{{cubox_url}}}) \n[Read Original]({{{url}}}) \n\n---\n\n{{#highlights.length}}\n## Annotations \n\n{{#highlights}}\n> {{{text}}} \n\n{{#note}}\n{{{note}}}\n{{/note}}\n[Link️]({{{cubox_url}}}) \n\n{{/highlights}}\n{{/highlights.length}}\n\n---\n{{{content}}} ", "highlightInContent": true, "dateFormat": "yyyy-MM-dd", - "lastSyncTime": 1759961224260, + "lastSyncTime": 1759964824291, "lastSyncCardId": "7375268849861527905", "lastCardUpdateTime": "2025-10-07T23:58:26.862+0800", "syncing": false diff --git a/.obsidian/plugins/rss-reader/data.json b/.obsidian/plugins/rss-reader/data.json index d7c4de4c..220caf1b 100644 --- a/.obsidian/plugins/rss-reader/data.json +++ b/.obsidian/plugins/rss-reader/data.json @@ -11753,28 +11753,6 @@ "hash": "5f74af3509bb7119b65229e9a44505ee", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "001FRONT - TARIFF TURBULENCE PROPELS ASEAN RETHINK", - "description": "

Port workers prepare to unload a ship carrying stacks of containers as it docks at the Manila North Harbour Port in the Philippines, on Aug 7.From that day, US imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand faced 19 percent tariff rates.

\n

Pedestrians are seen at a shopping area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 17, as the country reels from US tariffs.

\n

Workers pack furniture for shipping to the US at Corporate Specialist's factory on the outskirts of Muar, in Johor state, Malaysia, on April 11.

\n

A woman holds a shoe as she livestreams from a women's shoes and bag factory in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 14. The shoe factory relies on the marketplace to sell its products to various countries, including the United States.

\n

A vendor prepares fruit for sale at her stall at a fruit fair in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 5. The World Bank downgraded Thailand's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.6 percent from 2.9 percent, marking the lowest growth prediction among ASEAN economies.

\n

During his opening remarks at the Global Halal Summit in September, Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz recalled the "complex, challenging process" of negotiating tariffs with the United States.

\n

The trade minister led a high-level Malaysian delegation to Washington to negotiate the tariffs, after US President Donald Trump announced in April he would slap "reciprocal tariffs", ranging from 10 to 50 percent, on dozens of trading partners. Malaysia, one of the world's biggest exporters of semiconductors and commodities, was alarmed by the prospect of a 25 percent tariff.

\n

Tengku Zafrul said one of the sticking points in the negotiations was Malaysia's halal certification, which was regarded as a form of "non-tariff barrier". However, Malaysia considers the halal standards a "red line" that needs to be defended, Tengku Zafrul told hundreds of participants who gathered at the Sept 19 summit in Kuala Lumpur.

\n

He said that while Malaysia agreed to the facilitation of the import process for certain halal-certified products, "we stood firm on maintaining our world-class, world-leading halal standards".

\n

Muslim-majority Malaysia maintains a halal certification system. Halal means permissible, or lawful, in Arabic, and most of the country's population consumes products and services allowed in the Islamic faith.

\n

The nearly four-month negotiations concluded on July 31 with Trump agreeing to reduce the tariff on Malaysian products to 19 percent. While Malaysia has succeeded in maintaining its halal standards, it also offered concessions to the US — a commitment to buying aircraft, energy and telecommunications equipment.

\n

Despite the tariff reductions and concessions, Bank Negara Malaysia, the country's central bank, in late July cut Malaysia's GDP forecast for the year to 4 to 4.8 percent from the 4.5 to 5.5 percent forecast in March.

\n

"The global growth outlook is affected by shifting trade policies and uncertainties surrounding tariff developments, as well as geopolitical tensions. As a small open economy, Malaysia's growth prospects will be shaped by these developments," BNM said in a statement.

\n

'Lopsided' deals

\n

Malaysia's experience is not unique among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers, in an export-dependent region that is among the hardest hit by the US tariffs.

\n

Analysts see slower growth for most ASEAN countries in the coming months as tariffs boost consumer prices in the US and possibly discourage imports from ASEAN countries.

\n

Like Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand sent high-level delegations to negotiate with the Trump administration. They also agreed to concessions in exchange for tariff cuts, as well as additional imports from the US and allowing duty-free access of US goods into their domestic markets. Analysts viewed many of these deals as lopsided in favor of the US.

\n

Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies, said each ASEAN country "has paid a fairly high price for entering into a deal with the US".

\n

Despite committing to buy more US products and allowing more US businesses to access their markets, no ASEAN country managed to get "full access into the US market", he said. "They still continue to face tariffs. So it's not a very happy situation for (ASEAN) economies," Palit told China Daily.

\n

Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand were hit with 19 percent tariffs from Aug 7, while Vietnam was slugged with 20 percent. Brunei faces 25 percent, Laos and Myanmar both 40 percent, and Singapore 10 percent.

\n

While these tariff rates are lower than what Trump initially announced in April, they are higher than the rates that were in place beforehand.

\n

Kuala Lumpur-based Kenanga Investment Bank said in its Aug 4 research note that prior to the "reciprocal tariff shock", Malaysia enjoyed "very low" US tariffs. Some were even as low as zero on exports like semiconductors, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

\n

The preferential rates were due to most-favored-nation status, which is in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization.

\n

OCBC Bank in Singapore has estimated that the effective US tariffs imposed against ASEAN's six biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are significantly higher than the MFN rates.

\n

Financial experts see higher rates as a drag on growth in a region that has long relied heavily on the US for export revenues. In a report issued on Sept 23, S&P Global Ratings said it expects "external forces" to pressure Asia-Pacific growth in the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

\n

The report added that Asia-Pacific exports have held up so far in 2025 due in part to front-loading and strong demand for tech products.

\n

However, the credit rating agency forecasts ASEAN GDP growth will ease by 0.4 percentage points from 2024 to 4.5 percent in 2025, with "below-trend growth" in 2026, as the impact of the US tariffs hits. Some of this impact will be mitigated by robust electronics demand and accommodative monetary policy.

\n

In recent months, ASEAN member states' central banks have been cutting interest rates to support their economies amid the financial headwinds.

\n

On July 9, Malaysia's BNM cut interest rates for the first time in nearly two years as "a pre-emptive measure aimed at preserving Malaysia's steady growth path".

\n

In August, the Bank of Thailand and the Philippines' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced their rates to three-year lows of 1.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

\n

"In the near term, ASEAN countries are basically adopting a few counter-cyclical policies," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, OCBC's senior economist for ASEAN.

\n

But over the long term, ASEAN economies with bigger export sectors — like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam — will need to diversify trading and investment partners and reduce reliance on the US, she added.

\n

"Things are not what they used to be prior to President Trump's second term in the US. Each country will have to navigate these turbulent waters in the way it sees fit.

\n

"So whether that means continued protectionism for certain industries, whether that means opening up your economies for certain sectors, all of that will have to be re-engaged under the new rules of the game," Venkateswaran told China Daily.

\n

Erica Tay, Maybank's director of macro-research, said more domestically driven ASEAN economies, like the Philippines and Indonesia, will be less exposed to trade shocks. However, an economy's resilience against the impact of US tariffs will not depend on the size of its export sector alone, she added.

\n

An economy's resilience hinges a great deal on how much fiscal firepower a country has, Tay told China Daily. She cited Singapore, which might be export-dependent, but is also the wealthiest member of ASEAN, as an example.

\n

"Singapore is in quite a good place because it does have the fiscal resources to roll out some pump-priming projects to cushion economic growth during this very tumultuous period in the global trade landscape, whereas countries such as Thailand might not have much (fiscal) space," Tay said.

\n

Dumping fears

\n

The effect of the tariffs goes beyond the magnitude of the rates hurting ASEAN states' export earnings.

\n

The concessions offered to the US are mostly one-sided in favor of Washington, said Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

\n

The Philippines, for example, concluded negotiations with the US by allowing duty-free access of US goods to its local markets. This spells trouble for Philippine producers and industries, which are not competitive, he said. The Philippine food and agriculture sector is especially vulnerable.

\n

Zero tariffs on US farm products like corn and soy could lower the cost of production of Philippine poultry and livestock raisers, said Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul, executive director of the Center for Food and Agri Business at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific. The domestic market may also be swamped with low-cost US meat, undercutting local producers.

\n

"Dumped US farm surpluses could depress prices and squeeze Filipino farmers. The government can guard against this with trade remedies and farmer support," Galvez-Dacul said.

\n

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc, said discussions with Philippine officials revealed that some products such as corn are exempt from the duty-free access agreement.

\n

"Some of the Philippine feed millers would like corn to be included in the zero tariff so that the import cost will be lower. But it might (hurt) the local corn farmers. So we have to balance these things," Fausto said.

\n

He said he's also concerned about the possibility of dumping US food products in the market. The US, for example might dump their milk products in the Philippines, which will harm local dairy farmers.

\n

"They cannot recover (from the dumping) or even develop the industry going into the future," Fausto said.

\n

Fermin Adriano, former Philippine agriculture undersecretary, said improving productivity by boosting the budget for different crops could help the competitiveness of local agricultural products.

\n

New connections

\n

In the meantime, the Philippines should scale down its dependence on the US market. "I don't think that we should be dependent on the US because of this ever-changing policy of the (Trump) administration. It's quite difficult to make a business or to do business if you keep on changing the reference point," Adriano said.

\n

The best course of action is to diversify markets, and strengthen economic relationships with other trading partners like India and China, he said.

\n

Palit of NUS said joining broader international groups and entering trade partnerships is important amid the rise of US protectionism.

\n

He cited BRICS, which counts some of the world's largest emerging economies among its member states, as an example.

\n

" (They) really offer between themselves large opportunities for exchanges … in terms of products that earlier used to be focused largely on the American market," he said.

\n

There is the possibility of more bilateral trade agreements and multicountry coalitions emerging, Palit said.

\n

"Maybe we will also see regional frameworks like the ASEAN Plus framework becoming much more effective," he said, adding that as such frameworks modernize, more opportunities for diversification will be created.

\n

In the long-term, Tengku Zafrul believes the global trade system needs a new start in light of the challenges presented by high US tariffs.

\n

"The past few months have amply proved that no country is an island, and that geopolitics goes hand-in-hand with geoeconomics," the Malaysian minister said at the Global Halal Summit.

\n

"The global trading system needs a reset. It shouldn't be about stopgap measures. Neither can it be about creating new 'clubs'. It is about reimagining the architecture."

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n

", - "content": "

Port workers prepare to unload a ship carrying stacks of containers as it docks at the Manila North Harbour Port in the Philippines, on Aug 7.From that day, US imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand faced 19 percent tariff rates.

\n

Pedestrians are seen at a shopping area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 17, as the country reels from US tariffs.

\n

Workers pack furniture for shipping to the US at Corporate Specialist's factory on the outskirts of Muar, in Johor state, Malaysia, on April 11.

\n

A woman holds a shoe as she livestreams from a women's shoes and bag factory in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 14. The shoe factory relies on the marketplace to sell its products to various countries, including the United States.

\n

A vendor prepares fruit for sale at her stall at a fruit fair in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 5. The World Bank downgraded Thailand's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.6 percent from 2.9 percent, marking the lowest growth prediction among ASEAN economies.

\n

During his opening remarks at the Global Halal Summit in September, Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz recalled the "complex, challenging process" of negotiating tariffs with the United States.

\n

The trade minister led a high-level Malaysian delegation to Washington to negotiate the tariffs, after US President Donald Trump announced in April he would slap "reciprocal tariffs", ranging from 10 to 50 percent, on dozens of trading partners. Malaysia, one of the world's biggest exporters of semiconductors and commodities, was alarmed by the prospect of a 25 percent tariff.

\n

Tengku Zafrul said one of the sticking points in the negotiations was Malaysia's halal certification, which was regarded as a form of "non-tariff barrier". However, Malaysia considers the halal standards a "red line" that needs to be defended, Tengku Zafrul told hundreds of participants who gathered at the Sept 19 summit in Kuala Lumpur.

\n

He said that while Malaysia agreed to the facilitation of the import process for certain halal-certified products, "we stood firm on maintaining our world-class, world-leading halal standards".

\n

Muslim-majority Malaysia maintains a halal certification system. Halal means permissible, or lawful, in Arabic, and most of the country's population consumes products and services allowed in the Islamic faith.

\n

The nearly four-month negotiations concluded on July 31 with Trump agreeing to reduce the tariff on Malaysian products to 19 percent. While Malaysia has succeeded in maintaining its halal standards, it also offered concessions to the US — a commitment to buying aircraft, energy and telecommunications equipment.

\n

Despite the tariff reductions and concessions, Bank Negara Malaysia, the country's central bank, in late July cut Malaysia's GDP forecast for the year to 4 to 4.8 percent from the 4.5 to 5.5 percent forecast in March.

\n

"The global growth outlook is affected by shifting trade policies and uncertainties surrounding tariff developments, as well as geopolitical tensions. As a small open economy, Malaysia's growth prospects will be shaped by these developments," BNM said in a statement.

\n

'Lopsided' deals

\n

Malaysia's experience is not unique among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers, in an export-dependent region that is among the hardest hit by the US tariffs.

\n

Analysts see slower growth for most ASEAN countries in the coming months as tariffs boost consumer prices in the US and possibly discourage imports from ASEAN countries.

\n

Like Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand sent high-level delegations to negotiate with the Trump administration. They also agreed to concessions in exchange for tariff cuts, as well as additional imports from the US and allowing duty-free access of US goods into their domestic markets. Analysts viewed many of these deals as lopsided in favor of the US.

\n

Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies, said each ASEAN country "has paid a fairly high price for entering into a deal with the US".

\n

Despite committing to buy more US products and allowing more US businesses to access their markets, no ASEAN country managed to get "full access into the US market", he said. "They still continue to face tariffs. So it's not a very happy situation for (ASEAN) economies," Palit told China Daily.

\n

Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand were hit with 19 percent tariffs from Aug 7, while Vietnam was slugged with 20 percent. Brunei faces 25 percent, Laos and Myanmar both 40 percent, and Singapore 10 percent.

\n

While these tariff rates are lower than what Trump initially announced in April, they are higher than the rates that were in place beforehand.

\n

Kuala Lumpur-based Kenanga Investment Bank said in its Aug 4 research note that prior to the "reciprocal tariff shock", Malaysia enjoyed "very low" US tariffs. Some were even as low as zero on exports like semiconductors, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

\n

The preferential rates were due to most-favored-nation status, which is in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization.

\n

OCBC Bank in Singapore has estimated that the effective US tariffs imposed against ASEAN's six biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are significantly higher than the MFN rates.

\n

Financial experts see higher rates as a drag on growth in a region that has long relied heavily on the US for export revenues. In a report issued on Sept 23, S&P Global Ratings said it expects "external forces" to pressure Asia-Pacific growth in the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

\n

The report added that Asia-Pacific exports have held up so far in 2025 due in part to front-loading and strong demand for tech products.

\n

However, the credit rating agency forecasts ASEAN GDP growth will ease by 0.4 percentage points from 2024 to 4.5 percent in 2025, with "below-trend growth" in 2026, as the impact of the US tariffs hits. Some of this impact will be mitigated by robust electronics demand and accommodative monetary policy.

\n

In recent months, ASEAN member states' central banks have been cutting interest rates to support their economies amid the financial headwinds.

\n

On July 9, Malaysia's BNM cut interest rates for the first time in nearly two years as "a pre-emptive measure aimed at preserving Malaysia's steady growth path".

\n

In August, the Bank of Thailand and the Philippines' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced their rates to three-year lows of 1.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

\n

"In the near term, ASEAN countries are basically adopting a few counter-cyclical policies," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, OCBC's senior economist for ASEAN.

\n

But over the long term, ASEAN economies with bigger export sectors — like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam — will need to diversify trading and investment partners and reduce reliance on the US, she added.

\n

"Things are not what they used to be prior to President Trump's second term in the US. Each country will have to navigate these turbulent waters in the way it sees fit.

\n

"So whether that means continued protectionism for certain industries, whether that means opening up your economies for certain sectors, all of that will have to be re-engaged under the new rules of the game," Venkateswaran told China Daily.

\n

Erica Tay, Maybank's director of macro-research, said more domestically driven ASEAN economies, like the Philippines and Indonesia, will be less exposed to trade shocks. However, an economy's resilience against the impact of US tariffs will not depend on the size of its export sector alone, she added.

\n

An economy's resilience hinges a great deal on how much fiscal firepower a country has, Tay told China Daily. She cited Singapore, which might be export-dependent, but is also the wealthiest member of ASEAN, as an example.

\n

"Singapore is in quite a good place because it does have the fiscal resources to roll out some pump-priming projects to cushion economic growth during this very tumultuous period in the global trade landscape, whereas countries such as Thailand might not have much (fiscal) space," Tay said.

\n

Dumping fears

\n

The effect of the tariffs goes beyond the magnitude of the rates hurting ASEAN states' export earnings.

\n

The concessions offered to the US are mostly one-sided in favor of Washington, said Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

\n

The Philippines, for example, concluded negotiations with the US by allowing duty-free access of US goods to its local markets. This spells trouble for Philippine producers and industries, which are not competitive, he said. The Philippine food and agriculture sector is especially vulnerable.

\n

Zero tariffs on US farm products like corn and soy could lower the cost of production of Philippine poultry and livestock raisers, said Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul, executive director of the Center for Food and Agri Business at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific. The domestic market may also be swamped with low-cost US meat, undercutting local producers.

\n

"Dumped US farm surpluses could depress prices and squeeze Filipino farmers. The government can guard against this with trade remedies and farmer support," Galvez-Dacul said.

\n

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc, said discussions with Philippine officials revealed that some products such as corn are exempt from the duty-free access agreement.

\n

"Some of the Philippine feed millers would like corn to be included in the zero tariff so that the import cost will be lower. But it might (hurt) the local corn farmers. So we have to balance these things," Fausto said.

\n

He said he's also concerned about the possibility of dumping US food products in the market. The US, for example might dump their milk products in the Philippines, which will harm local dairy farmers.

\n

"They cannot recover (from the dumping) or even develop the industry going into the future," Fausto said.

\n

Fermin Adriano, former Philippine agriculture undersecretary, said improving productivity by boosting the budget for different crops could help the competitiveness of local agricultural products.

\n

New connections

\n

In the meantime, the Philippines should scale down its dependence on the US market. "I don't think that we should be dependent on the US because of this ever-changing policy of the (Trump) administration. It's quite difficult to make a business or to do business if you keep on changing the reference point," Adriano said.

\n

The best course of action is to diversify markets, and strengthen economic relationships with other trading partners like India and China, he said.

\n

Palit of NUS said joining broader international groups and entering trade partnerships is important amid the rise of US protectionism.

\n

He cited BRICS, which counts some of the world's largest emerging economies among its member states, as an example.

\n

" (They) really offer between themselves large opportunities for exchanges … in terms of products that earlier used to be focused largely on the American market," he said.

\n

There is the possibility of more bilateral trade agreements and multicountry coalitions emerging, Palit said.

\n

"Maybe we will also see regional frameworks like the ASEAN Plus framework becoming much more effective," he said, adding that as such frameworks modernize, more opportunities for diversification will be created.

\n

In the long-term, Tengku Zafrul believes the global trade system needs a new start in light of the challenges presented by high US tariffs.

\n

"The past few months have amply proved that no country is an island, and that geopolitics goes hand-in-hand with geoeconomics," the Malaysian minister said at the Global Halal Summit.

\n

"The global trading system needs a reset. It shouldn't be about stopgap measures. Neither can it be about creating new 'clubs'. It is about reimagining the architecture."

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_001_68e570bded50ccabe151ab9a.htm#001FRONT", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:05 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "69242c234453c740b3ebe61d3ee0fa7a", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "001FRONT - Forex reserves hit highest level in decade", "description": "

China's foreign exchange reserves stood at the highest level in a decade in September, underscoring the country's growing economic resilience in the face of external shocks, official data revealed on Tuesday.

\n

At the same time, official gold reserves rose for the 11th consecutive month, a trend experts said is likely to continue as the country optimizes its reserve structure amid waning confidence in the US dollar.

\n

The country's foreign exchange reserves increased for the second month in a row in September to $3.3387 trillion, up 0.5 percent or $16.5 billion from the previous month, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Tuesday.

\n

The $3.3387 trillion in reserves marked the highest level since November 2015, when it stood at $3.4383 trillion, according to the foreign exchange regulator. The administration said China's steady economic performance and high-quality development will continue to help keep its foreign exchange reserves generally stable going forward.

\n

Guan Tao, global chief economist at investment bank BOCI China, said that China's foreign exchange reserves hitting their highest level since late 2015 highlights the country's growing capacity to withstand and address external shocks.

\n

Guan said the latest increase was largely driven by the appreciation of global financial assets, while the US Federal Reserve's interest rate cut in September led to slight fluctuations in the dollar. Fluctuations in the dollar change the value of non-dollar reserves in dollar terms.

\n

Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said the rise in foreign exchange was also the result of the country's export resilience and the rising appeal of renminbi financial assets.

\n

Diversified trading partners, an optimized product structure and progress in trade talks with the United States have all helped exports remain the cornerstone for stabilizing cross-border capital flows, Wen said, adding that broader access for overseas investors to onshore securities is set to further strengthen the renminbi's international appeal.

\n

Despite global trade uncertainties, the country's exports in goods went up 7 percent year-on-year to $1.7 trillion in the first half of the year, according to the balance of payments data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, leading to a trade surplus in goods of $456.7 billion.

\n

The data also showed that net overseas investment inflows into onshore securities reached $37.3 billion in the same period, surpassing the $26.6 billion for the whole of 2024, with equity investment accounting for three-quarters of the amount.

\n

The administration said the country's official gold reserves came in at 74.06 million ounces at the end of September, up from 74.02 million ounces a month earlier, marking the 11th consecutive month of increase.

\n

This happened as international gold prices hit record highs amid expectations of the US Fed's rate cuts and doubts about its policy independence. The US government shutdown further eroded confidence in the dollar and increased safe-haven demand, sending COMEX gold futures — a benchmark for international gold prices — to a record high of $4,000.1 during Tuesday's trading.

\n

Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International, said the general trend of China's central bank increasing gold holdings may continue in order to optimize its reserve structure as international gold prices may remain on an upward trajectory for an extended period.

\n

According to Wang, September saw the smallest addition to China's gold reserves since purchases resumed in November 2024, with gold making up 7.7 percent of the country's total international reserves — mainly foreign exchange and gold — versus a global average of 15 percent.

\n

Wang added that the rising holdings of gold would also facilitate renminbi internationalization, while the country's ample foreign exchange reserves will provide crucial support for maintaining the renminbi exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level.

\n

zhoulanxv@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -11797,28 +11775,6 @@ "hash": "bede3310a81991d1c00c6cb18b9b4e76", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "001FRONT - Beijing and Seoul vow to strengthen cooperation", - "description": "

Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with his Republic of Korea counterpart Cho Hyun on Tuesday as the two countries vowed to further consolidate bilateral ties.

\n

It was the second interaction between the two foreign ministers in less than a month. Cho visited China in September and met with Wang in Beijing.

\n

China hopes to work with the ROK to enhance mutual trust, avoid disruptions and deepen cooperation, thus contributing to each other's success and to the region's peace, stability and development, Wang said during Tuesday's phone conversation.

\n

The two countries are important neighbors and close cooperative partners, Wang said, adding that China has always valued its ties with the ROK.

\n

The ROK is the host of this year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which will begin on Oct 31, and China is the host of next year's meeting.

\n

Noting the fact, Wang said that he hopes both sides will support each other, further build consensus among all parties and strengthen unity and collaboration.

\n

Both sides should safeguard the international trade system, uphold multilateralism and advance the process of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, Wang added.

\n

Cho said his country attaches great importance to ties with China, and will do all it can to develop the ties.

\n

He voiced the hope that the ROK will take the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting as an opportunity to promote high-level interaction with China and deepen exchanges and cooperation.

\n

China and the ROK, which established diplomatic relations in 1992, enjoy robust exchanges in trade and other fields.

\n

China is the ROK's largest trading partner, the largest market for the ROK's exports and the largest source of imports for the ROK, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

\n

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with his Republic of Korea counterpart Cho Hyun on Tuesday as the two countries vowed to further consolidate bilateral ties.

\n

It was the second interaction between the two foreign ministers in less than a month. Cho visited China in September and met with Wang in Beijing.

\n

China hopes to work with the ROK to enhance mutual trust, avoid disruptions and deepen cooperation, thus contributing to each other's success and to the region's peace, stability and development, Wang said during Tuesday's phone conversation.

\n

The two countries are important neighbors and close cooperative partners, Wang said, adding that China has always valued its ties with the ROK.

\n

The ROK is the host of this year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which will begin on Oct 31, and China is the host of next year's meeting.

\n

Noting the fact, Wang said that he hopes both sides will support each other, further build consensus among all parties and strengthen unity and collaboration.

\n

Both sides should safeguard the international trade system, uphold multilateralism and advance the process of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, Wang added.

\n

Cho said his country attaches great importance to ties with China, and will do all it can to develop the ties.

\n

He voiced the hope that the ROK will take the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting as an opportunity to promote high-level interaction with China and deepen exchanges and cooperation.

\n

China and the ROK, which established diplomatic relations in 1992, enjoy robust exchanges in trade and other fields.

\n

China is the ROK's largest trading partner, the largest market for the ROK's exports and the largest source of imports for the ROK, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

\n

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_001_68e570ceed50ccabe151ab9e.htm#001FRONT", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "343cd67a534070874f6511fd0eb3c58a", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "002NATION - Folk revelry", "description": "

Participants chase ducks during an agriculture-themed folk event in Jianhe county's Nanming town, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Guizhou province, on Monday. The event celebrates local rural traditions, featuring duck catching, fish catching and tug-of-war competitions.

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", @@ -11841,28 +11797,6 @@ "hash": "f0d62813302436e433320a273010ae46", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "002NATION - New plan to boost fight against hepatitis", - "description": "

China aims to strengthen newborn vaccination against hepatitis A and B and reduce the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in children under 5 to 0.2 percent by 2030, compared to around 0.3 percent at present, according to an action plan released recently.

\n

Meanwhile, the diagnosis rate for chronic hepatitis B patients and the antiviral treatment rate for newly reported patients will both reach at least 80 percent by 2030, said the document released by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration and eight other government departments.

\n

China had about 120 million carriers of hepatitis B — an infection linked to a higher risk of chronic liver disease and liver cancer — in the early 1990s.

\n

Since 1992, the nation has been administering hepatitis B vaccines to newborns. The vaccine was included in the national immunization program in 2002, followed by the addition of the hepatitis A vaccine in 2008.

\n

Health authorities recently said that mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is on track for elimination, while the spread of hepatitis B and C through blood transfusion has been essentially blocked.

\n

The plan is aimed at further bolstering the fight against the infectious disease, especially the most common type of hepatitis B that still affects about 75 million people nationwide.

\n

By 2030, the full-course vaccination coverage rate for hepatitis A and B vaccines among children should remain consistently at or above 95 percent and the mother-to-child transmission rate of hepatitis B should be reduced to 1 percent or below.

\n

The plan stipulates that nursery care centers, kindergartens and schools should strictly inspect vaccination certifications of children upon enrollment.

\n

For adults, efforts will be made to promote immunization against hepatitis B for high-risk groups, such as frequent recipients of blood products, individuals with weakened immunity, family members and sexual partners of infected people.

\n

To achieve elimination of mother-to-child transmission, healthcare institutions are required to provide hepatitis B testing for all pregnant women as early as possible and offer standardized antiviral treatment to infected individuals.

\n

Newborns of infected mothers should receive the hepatitis B vaccines and immunoglobulin injections within 12 hours after birth. Regular follow-up examinations should be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.

\n

The action plan also called for the use of information technologies and encouraging voluntary testing to detect undiagnosed cases. "Those testing positive will be offered services to confirm diagnosis and antiviral treatment. Patients who cannot be managed locally should be transferred to other venues promptly," it said.

\n

To improve access to standardized treatment, the document requires healthcare institutions to carry out pretreatment testing and treatment eligibility assessment for infected people and mobilize them to undergo standardized antiviral therapy.

\n

"Efforts should be made to explore internet-based diagnosis and treatment models, along with medicine delivery services, as well as offer health education and counseling to patients and their family members so as to enhance treatment compliance and outcomes," it said.

\n

wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "content": "

China aims to strengthen newborn vaccination against hepatitis A and B and reduce the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in children under 5 to 0.2 percent by 2030, compared to around 0.3 percent at present, according to an action plan released recently.

\n

Meanwhile, the diagnosis rate for chronic hepatitis B patients and the antiviral treatment rate for newly reported patients will both reach at least 80 percent by 2030, said the document released by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration and eight other government departments.

\n

China had about 120 million carriers of hepatitis B — an infection linked to a higher risk of chronic liver disease and liver cancer — in the early 1990s.

\n

Since 1992, the nation has been administering hepatitis B vaccines to newborns. The vaccine was included in the national immunization program in 2002, followed by the addition of the hepatitis A vaccine in 2008.

\n

Health authorities recently said that mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is on track for elimination, while the spread of hepatitis B and C through blood transfusion has been essentially blocked.

\n

The plan is aimed at further bolstering the fight against the infectious disease, especially the most common type of hepatitis B that still affects about 75 million people nationwide.

\n

By 2030, the full-course vaccination coverage rate for hepatitis A and B vaccines among children should remain consistently at or above 95 percent and the mother-to-child transmission rate of hepatitis B should be reduced to 1 percent or below.

\n

The plan stipulates that nursery care centers, kindergartens and schools should strictly inspect vaccination certifications of children upon enrollment.

\n

For adults, efforts will be made to promote immunization against hepatitis B for high-risk groups, such as frequent recipients of blood products, individuals with weakened immunity, family members and sexual partners of infected people.

\n

To achieve elimination of mother-to-child transmission, healthcare institutions are required to provide hepatitis B testing for all pregnant women as early as possible and offer standardized antiviral treatment to infected individuals.

\n

Newborns of infected mothers should receive the hepatitis B vaccines and immunoglobulin injections within 12 hours after birth. Regular follow-up examinations should be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.

\n

The action plan also called for the use of information technologies and encouraging voluntary testing to detect undiagnosed cases. "Those testing positive will be offered services to confirm diagnosis and antiviral treatment. Patients who cannot be managed locally should be transferred to other venues promptly," it said.

\n

To improve access to standardized treatment, the document requires healthcare institutions to carry out pretreatment testing and treatment eligibility assessment for infected people and mobilize them to undergo standardized antiviral therapy.

\n

"Efforts should be made to explore internet-based diagnosis and treatment models, along with medicine delivery services, as well as offer health education and counseling to patients and their family members so as to enhance treatment compliance and outcomes," it said.

\n

wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_002_68e570dfed50ccabe151aba2.htm#002NATION", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "4b49f08b51a05d895df89782a97a5fe0", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "002NATION - Forex reserves hit highest level in decade", "description": "

China's foreign exchange reserves stood at the highest level in a decade in September, underscoring the country's growing economic resilience in the face of external shocks, official data revealed on Tuesday.

\n

At the same time, official gold reserves rose for the 11th consecutive month, a trend experts said is likely to continue as the country optimizes its reserve structure amid waning confidence in the US dollar.

\n

The country's foreign exchange reserves increased for the second month in a row in September to $3.3387 trillion, up 0.5 percent or $16.5 billion from the previous month, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Tuesday.

\n

The $3.3387 trillion in reserves marked the highest level since November 2015, when it stood at $3.4383 trillion, according to the foreign exchange regulator. The administration said China's steady economic performance and high-quality development will continue to help keep its foreign exchange reserves generally stable going forward.

\n

Guan Tao, global chief economist at investment bank BOCI China, said that China's foreign exchange reserves hitting their highest level since late 2015 highlights the country's growing capacity to withstand and address external shocks.

\n

Guan said the latest increase was largely driven by the appreciation of global financial assets, while the US Federal Reserve's interest rate cut in September led to slight fluctuations in the dollar. Fluctuations in the dollar change the value of non-dollar reserves in dollar terms.

\n

Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said the rise in foreign exchange was also the result of the country's export resilience and the rising appeal of renminbi financial assets.

\n

Diversified trading partners, an optimized product structure and progress in trade talks with the United States have all helped exports remain the cornerstone for stabilizing cross-border capital flows, Wen said, adding that broader access for overseas investors to onshore securities is set to further strengthen the renminbi's international appeal.

\n

Despite global trade uncertainties, the country's exports in goods went up 7 percent year-on-year to $1.7 trillion in the first half of the year, according to the balance of payments data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, leading to a trade surplus in goods of $456.7 billion.

\n

The data also showed that net overseas investment inflows into onshore securities reached $37.3 billion in the same period, surpassing the $26.6 billion for the whole of 2024, with equity investment accounting for three-quarters of the amount.

\n

The administration said the country's official gold reserves came in at 74.06 million ounces at the end of September, up from 74.02 million ounces a month earlier, marking the 11th consecutive month of increase.

\n

This happened as international gold prices hit record highs amid expectations of the US Fed's rate cuts and doubts about its policy independence. The US government shutdown further eroded confidence in the dollar and increased safe-haven demand, sending COMEX gold futures — a benchmark for international gold prices — to a record high of $4,000.1 during Tuesday's trading.

\n

Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International, said the general trend of China's central bank increasing gold holdings may continue in order to optimize its reserve structure as international gold prices may remain on an upward trajectory for an extended period.

\n

According to Wang, September saw the smallest addition to China's gold reserves since purchases resumed in November 2024, with gold making up 7.7 percent of the country's total international reserves — mainly foreign exchange and gold — versus a global average of 15 percent.

\n

Wang added that the rising holdings of gold would also facilitate renminbi internationalization, while the country's ample foreign exchange reserves will provide crucial support for maintaining the renminbi exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level.

\n

zhoulanxv@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -11885,28 +11819,6 @@ "hash": "0825b50e761dc7c2200fbc6490e8339f", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "003COVER - TARIFF TURBULENCE PROPELS ASEAN RETHINK", - "description": "

Port workers prepare to unload a ship carrying stacks of containers as it docks at the Manila North Harbour Port in the Philippines, on Aug 7.From that day, US imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand faced 19 percent tariff rates.

\n

Pedestrians are seen at a shopping area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 17, as the country reels from US tariffs.

\n

Workers pack furniture for shipping to the US at Corporate Specialist's factory on the outskirts of Muar, in Johor state, Malaysia, on April 11.

\n

A woman holds a shoe as she livestreams from a women's shoes and bag factory in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 14. The shoe factory relies on the marketplace to sell its products to various countries, including the United States.

\n

A vendor prepares fruit for sale at her stall at a fruit fair in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 5. The World Bank downgraded Thailand's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.6 percent from 2.9 percent, marking the lowest growth prediction among ASEAN economies.

\n

During his opening remarks at the Global Halal Summit in September, Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz recalled the "complex, challenging process" of negotiating tariffs with the United States.

\n

The trade minister led a high-level Malaysian delegation to Washington to negotiate the tariffs, after US President Donald Trump announced in April he would slap "reciprocal tariffs", ranging from 10 to 50 percent, on dozens of trading partners. Malaysia, one of the world's biggest exporters of semiconductors and commodities, was alarmed by the prospect of a 25 percent tariff.

\n

Tengku Zafrul said one of the sticking points in the negotiations was Malaysia's halal certification, which was regarded as a form of "non-tariff barrier". However, Malaysia considers the halal standards a "red line" that needs to be defended, Tengku Zafrul told hundreds of participants who gathered at the Sept 19 summit in Kuala Lumpur.

\n

He said that while Malaysia agreed to the facilitation of the import process for certain halal-certified products, "we stood firm on maintaining our world-class, world-leading halal standards".

\n

Muslim-majority Malaysia maintains a halal certification system. Halal means permissible, or lawful, in Arabic, and most of the country's population consumes products and services allowed in the Islamic faith.

\n

The nearly four-month negotiations concluded on July 31 with Trump agreeing to reduce the tariff on Malaysian products to 19 percent. While Malaysia has succeeded in maintaining its halal standards, it also offered concessions to the US — a commitment to buying aircraft, energy and telecommunications equipment.

\n

Despite the tariff reductions and concessions, Bank Negara Malaysia, the country's central bank, in late July cut Malaysia's GDP forecast for the year to 4 to 4.8 percent from the 4.5 to 5.5 percent forecast in March.

\n

"The global growth outlook is affected by shifting trade policies and uncertainties surrounding tariff developments, as well as geopolitical tensions. As a small open economy, Malaysia's growth prospects will be shaped by these developments," BNM said in a statement.

\n

'Lopsided' deals

\n

Malaysia's experience is not unique among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers, in an export-dependent region that is among the hardest hit by the US tariffs.

\n

Analysts see slower growth for most ASEAN countries in the coming months as tariffs boost consumer prices in the US and possibly discourage imports from ASEAN countries.

\n

Like Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand sent high-level delegations to negotiate with the Trump administration. They also agreed to concessions in exchange for tariff cuts, as well as additional imports from the US and allowing duty-free access of US goods into their domestic markets. Analysts viewed many of these deals as lopsided in favor of the US.

\n

Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies, said each ASEAN country "has paid a fairly high price for entering into a deal with the US".

\n

Despite committing to buy more US products and allowing more US businesses to access their markets, no ASEAN country managed to get "full access into the US market", he said. "They still continue to face tariffs. So it's not a very happy situation for (ASEAN) economies," Palit told China Daily.

\n

Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand were hit with 19 percent tariffs from Aug 7, while Vietnam was slugged with 20 percent. Brunei faces 25 percent, Laos and Myanmar both 40 percent, and Singapore 10 percent.

\n

While these tariff rates are lower than what Trump initially announced in April, they are higher than the rates that were in place beforehand.

\n

Kuala Lumpur-based Kenanga Investment Bank said in its Aug 4 research note that prior to the "reciprocal tariff shock", Malaysia enjoyed "very low" US tariffs. Some were even as low as zero on exports like semiconductors, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

\n

The preferential rates were due to most-favored-nation status, which is in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization.

\n

OCBC Bank in Singapore has estimated that the effective US tariffs imposed against ASEAN's six biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are significantly higher than the MFN rates.

\n

Financial experts see higher rates as a drag on growth in a region that has long relied heavily on the US for export revenues. In a report issued on Sept 23, S&P Global Ratings said it expects "external forces" to pressure Asia-Pacific growth in the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

\n

The report added that Asia-Pacific exports have held up so far in 2025 due in part to front-loading and strong demand for tech products.

\n

However, the credit rating agency forecasts ASEAN GDP growth will ease by 0.4 percentage points from 2024 to 4.5 percent in 2025, with "below-trend growth" in 2026, as the impact of the US tariffs hits. Some of this impact will be mitigated by robust electronics demand and accommodative monetary policy.

\n

In recent months, ASEAN member states' central banks have been cutting interest rates to support their economies amid the financial headwinds.

\n

On July 9, Malaysia's BNM cut interest rates for the first time in nearly two years as "a pre-emptive measure aimed at preserving Malaysia's steady growth path".

\n

In August, the Bank of Thailand and the Philippines' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced their rates to three-year lows of 1.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

\n

"In the near term, ASEAN countries are basically adopting a few counter-cyclical policies," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, OCBC's senior economist for ASEAN.

\n

But over the long term, ASEAN economies with bigger export sectors — like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam — will need to diversify trading and investment partners and reduce reliance on the US, she added.

\n

"Things are not what they used to be prior to President Trump's second term in the US. Each country will have to navigate these turbulent waters in the way it sees fit.

\n

"So whether that means continued protectionism for certain industries, whether that means opening up your economies for certain sectors, all of that will have to be re-engaged under the new rules of the game," Venkateswaran told China Daily.

\n

Erica Tay, Maybank's director of macro-research, said more domestically driven ASEAN economies, like the Philippines and Indonesia, will be less exposed to trade shocks. However, an economy's resilience against the impact of US tariffs will not depend on the size of its export sector alone, she added.

\n

An economy's resilience hinges a great deal on how much fiscal firepower a country has, Tay told China Daily. She cited Singapore, which might be export-dependent, but is also the wealthiest member of ASEAN, as an example.

\n

"Singapore is in quite a good place because it does have the fiscal resources to roll out some pump-priming projects to cushion economic growth during this very tumultuous period in the global trade landscape, whereas countries such as Thailand might not have much (fiscal) space," Tay said.

\n

Dumping fears

\n

The effect of the tariffs goes beyond the magnitude of the rates hurting ASEAN states' export earnings.

\n

The concessions offered to the US are mostly one-sided in favor of Washington, said Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

\n

The Philippines, for example, concluded negotiations with the US by allowing duty-free access of US goods to its local markets. This spells trouble for Philippine producers and industries, which are not competitive, he said. The Philippine food and agriculture sector is especially vulnerable.

\n

Zero tariffs on US farm products like corn and soy could lower the cost of production of Philippine poultry and livestock raisers, said Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul, executive director of the Center for Food and Agri Business at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific. The domestic market may also be swamped with low-cost US meat, undercutting local producers.

\n

"Dumped US farm surpluses could depress prices and squeeze Filipino farmers. The government can guard against this with trade remedies and farmer support," Galvez-Dacul said.

\n

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc, said discussions with Philippine officials revealed that some products such as corn are exempt from the duty-free access agreement.

\n

"Some of the Philippine feed millers would like corn to be included in the zero tariff so that the import cost will be lower. But it might (hurt) the local corn farmers. So we have to balance these things," Fausto said.

\n

He said he's also concerned about the possibility of dumping US food products in the market. The US, for example might dump their milk products in the Philippines, which will harm local dairy farmers.

\n

"They cannot recover (from the dumping) or even develop the industry going into the future," Fausto said.

\n

Fermin Adriano, former Philippine agriculture undersecretary, said improving productivity by boosting the budget for different crops could help the competitiveness of local agricultural products.

\n

New connections

\n

In the meantime, the Philippines should scale down its dependence on the US market. "I don't think that we should be dependent on the US because of this ever-changing policy of the (Trump) administration. It's quite difficult to make a business or to do business if you keep on changing the reference point," Adriano said.

\n

The best course of action is to diversify markets, and strengthen economic relationships with other trading partners like India and China, he said.

\n

Palit of NUS said joining broader international groups and entering trade partnerships is important amid the rise of US protectionism.

\n

He cited BRICS, which counts some of the world's largest emerging economies among its member states, as an example.

\n

"(They) really offer between themselves large opportunities for exchanges … in terms of products that earlier used to be focused largely on the American market," he said.

\n

There is the possibility of more bilateral trade agreements and multicountry coalitions emerging, Palit said.

\n

"Maybe we will also see regional frameworks like the ASEAN Plus framework becoming much more effective," he said, adding that as such frameworks modernize, more opportunities for diversification will be created.

\n

In the long-term, Tengku Zafrul believes the global trade system needs a new start in light of the challenges presented by high US tariffs.

\n

"The past few months have amply proved that no country is an island, and that geopolitics goes hand-in-hand with geoeconomics," the Malaysian minister said at the Global Halal Summit.

\n

"The global trading system needs a reset. It shouldn't be about stopgap measures. Neither can it be about creating new 'clubs'. It is about reimagining the architecture."

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n

", - "content": "

Port workers prepare to unload a ship carrying stacks of containers as it docks at the Manila North Harbour Port in the Philippines, on Aug 7.From that day, US imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand faced 19 percent tariff rates.

\n

Pedestrians are seen at a shopping area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 17, as the country reels from US tariffs.

\n

Workers pack furniture for shipping to the US at Corporate Specialist's factory on the outskirts of Muar, in Johor state, Malaysia, on April 11.

\n

A woman holds a shoe as she livestreams from a women's shoes and bag factory in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 14. The shoe factory relies on the marketplace to sell its products to various countries, including the United States.

\n

A vendor prepares fruit for sale at her stall at a fruit fair in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 5. The World Bank downgraded Thailand's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.6 percent from 2.9 percent, marking the lowest growth prediction among ASEAN economies.

\n

During his opening remarks at the Global Halal Summit in September, Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz recalled the "complex, challenging process" of negotiating tariffs with the United States.

\n

The trade minister led a high-level Malaysian delegation to Washington to negotiate the tariffs, after US President Donald Trump announced in April he would slap "reciprocal tariffs", ranging from 10 to 50 percent, on dozens of trading partners. Malaysia, one of the world's biggest exporters of semiconductors and commodities, was alarmed by the prospect of a 25 percent tariff.

\n

Tengku Zafrul said one of the sticking points in the negotiations was Malaysia's halal certification, which was regarded as a form of "non-tariff barrier". However, Malaysia considers the halal standards a "red line" that needs to be defended, Tengku Zafrul told hundreds of participants who gathered at the Sept 19 summit in Kuala Lumpur.

\n

He said that while Malaysia agreed to the facilitation of the import process for certain halal-certified products, "we stood firm on maintaining our world-class, world-leading halal standards".

\n

Muslim-majority Malaysia maintains a halal certification system. Halal means permissible, or lawful, in Arabic, and most of the country's population consumes products and services allowed in the Islamic faith.

\n

The nearly four-month negotiations concluded on July 31 with Trump agreeing to reduce the tariff on Malaysian products to 19 percent. While Malaysia has succeeded in maintaining its halal standards, it also offered concessions to the US — a commitment to buying aircraft, energy and telecommunications equipment.

\n

Despite the tariff reductions and concessions, Bank Negara Malaysia, the country's central bank, in late July cut Malaysia's GDP forecast for the year to 4 to 4.8 percent from the 4.5 to 5.5 percent forecast in March.

\n

"The global growth outlook is affected by shifting trade policies and uncertainties surrounding tariff developments, as well as geopolitical tensions. As a small open economy, Malaysia's growth prospects will be shaped by these developments," BNM said in a statement.

\n

'Lopsided' deals

\n

Malaysia's experience is not unique among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers, in an export-dependent region that is among the hardest hit by the US tariffs.

\n

Analysts see slower growth for most ASEAN countries in the coming months as tariffs boost consumer prices in the US and possibly discourage imports from ASEAN countries.

\n

Like Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand sent high-level delegations to negotiate with the Trump administration. They also agreed to concessions in exchange for tariff cuts, as well as additional imports from the US and allowing duty-free access of US goods into their domestic markets. Analysts viewed many of these deals as lopsided in favor of the US.

\n

Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies, said each ASEAN country "has paid a fairly high price for entering into a deal with the US".

\n

Despite committing to buy more US products and allowing more US businesses to access their markets, no ASEAN country managed to get "full access into the US market", he said. "They still continue to face tariffs. So it's not a very happy situation for (ASEAN) economies," Palit told China Daily.

\n

Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand were hit with 19 percent tariffs from Aug 7, while Vietnam was slugged with 20 percent. Brunei faces 25 percent, Laos and Myanmar both 40 percent, and Singapore 10 percent.

\n

While these tariff rates are lower than what Trump initially announced in April, they are higher than the rates that were in place beforehand.

\n

Kuala Lumpur-based Kenanga Investment Bank said in its Aug 4 research note that prior to the "reciprocal tariff shock", Malaysia enjoyed "very low" US tariffs. Some were even as low as zero on exports like semiconductors, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

\n

The preferential rates were due to most-favored-nation status, which is in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization.

\n

OCBC Bank in Singapore has estimated that the effective US tariffs imposed against ASEAN's six biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are significantly higher than the MFN rates.

\n

Financial experts see higher rates as a drag on growth in a region that has long relied heavily on the US for export revenues. In a report issued on Sept 23, S&P Global Ratings said it expects "external forces" to pressure Asia-Pacific growth in the rest of 2025 and into 2026.

\n

The report added that Asia-Pacific exports have held up so far in 2025 due in part to front-loading and strong demand for tech products.

\n

However, the credit rating agency forecasts ASEAN GDP growth will ease by 0.4 percentage points from 2024 to 4.5 percent in 2025, with "below-trend growth" in 2026, as the impact of the US tariffs hits. Some of this impact will be mitigated by robust electronics demand and accommodative monetary policy.

\n

In recent months, ASEAN member states' central banks have been cutting interest rates to support their economies amid the financial headwinds.

\n

On July 9, Malaysia's BNM cut interest rates for the first time in nearly two years as "a pre-emptive measure aimed at preserving Malaysia's steady growth path".

\n

In August, the Bank of Thailand and the Philippines' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced their rates to three-year lows of 1.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

\n

"In the near term, ASEAN countries are basically adopting a few counter-cyclical policies," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, OCBC's senior economist for ASEAN.

\n

But over the long term, ASEAN economies with bigger export sectors — like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam — will need to diversify trading and investment partners and reduce reliance on the US, she added.

\n

"Things are not what they used to be prior to President Trump's second term in the US. Each country will have to navigate these turbulent waters in the way it sees fit.

\n

"So whether that means continued protectionism for certain industries, whether that means opening up your economies for certain sectors, all of that will have to be re-engaged under the new rules of the game," Venkateswaran told China Daily.

\n

Erica Tay, Maybank's director of macro-research, said more domestically driven ASEAN economies, like the Philippines and Indonesia, will be less exposed to trade shocks. However, an economy's resilience against the impact of US tariffs will not depend on the size of its export sector alone, she added.

\n

An economy's resilience hinges a great deal on how much fiscal firepower a country has, Tay told China Daily. She cited Singapore, which might be export-dependent, but is also the wealthiest member of ASEAN, as an example.

\n

"Singapore is in quite a good place because it does have the fiscal resources to roll out some pump-priming projects to cushion economic growth during this very tumultuous period in the global trade landscape, whereas countries such as Thailand might not have much (fiscal) space," Tay said.

\n

Dumping fears

\n

The effect of the tariffs goes beyond the magnitude of the rates hurting ASEAN states' export earnings.

\n

The concessions offered to the US are mostly one-sided in favor of Washington, said Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

\n

The Philippines, for example, concluded negotiations with the US by allowing duty-free access of US goods to its local markets. This spells trouble for Philippine producers and industries, which are not competitive, he said. The Philippine food and agriculture sector is especially vulnerable.

\n

Zero tariffs on US farm products like corn and soy could lower the cost of production of Philippine poultry and livestock raisers, said Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul, executive director of the Center for Food and Agri Business at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific. The domestic market may also be swamped with low-cost US meat, undercutting local producers.

\n

"Dumped US farm surpluses could depress prices and squeeze Filipino farmers. The government can guard against this with trade remedies and farmer support," Galvez-Dacul said.

\n

Danilo Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc, said discussions with Philippine officials revealed that some products such as corn are exempt from the duty-free access agreement.

\n

"Some of the Philippine feed millers would like corn to be included in the zero tariff so that the import cost will be lower. But it might (hurt) the local corn farmers. So we have to balance these things," Fausto said.

\n

He said he's also concerned about the possibility of dumping US food products in the market. The US, for example might dump their milk products in the Philippines, which will harm local dairy farmers.

\n

"They cannot recover (from the dumping) or even develop the industry going into the future," Fausto said.

\n

Fermin Adriano, former Philippine agriculture undersecretary, said improving productivity by boosting the budget for different crops could help the competitiveness of local agricultural products.

\n

New connections

\n

In the meantime, the Philippines should scale down its dependence on the US market. "I don't think that we should be dependent on the US because of this ever-changing policy of the (Trump) administration. It's quite difficult to make a business or to do business if you keep on changing the reference point," Adriano said.

\n

The best course of action is to diversify markets, and strengthen economic relationships with other trading partners like India and China, he said.

\n

Palit of NUS said joining broader international groups and entering trade partnerships is important amid the rise of US protectionism.

\n

He cited BRICS, which counts some of the world's largest emerging economies among its member states, as an example.

\n

"(They) really offer between themselves large opportunities for exchanges … in terms of products that earlier used to be focused largely on the American market," he said.

\n

There is the possibility of more bilateral trade agreements and multicountry coalitions emerging, Palit said.

\n

"Maybe we will also see regional frameworks like the ASEAN Plus framework becoming much more effective," he said, adding that as such frameworks modernize, more opportunities for diversification will be created.

\n

In the long-term, Tengku Zafrul believes the global trade system needs a new start in light of the challenges presented by high US tariffs.

\n

"The past few months have amply proved that no country is an island, and that geopolitics goes hand-in-hand with geoeconomics," the Malaysian minister said at the Global Halal Summit.

\n

"The global trading system needs a reset. It shouldn't be about stopgap measures. Neither can it be about creating new 'clubs'. It is about reimagining the architecture."

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_003_68e570e7ed50ccabe151aba6.htm#003COVER", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "db8c447fafe324a10e93cbb27dbe42a7", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "004WORLD - Rain misery", "description": "

A man pushes his motorbike on a flooded street due to heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Matmo in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Tuesday. Several schools in the capital closed or shifted to online teaching, while several flights from and to Noi Bai International Airport have been delayed or rescheduled.

\n

", @@ -11929,28 +11841,6 @@ "hash": "64a2d700774f426af5fa278185cfd612", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "004WORLD - Macron asks French PM to salvage cabinet", - "description": "

In a bid to save his country from further political turmoil, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to return to work just hours after accepting his resignation on Monday.

\n

Lecornu, who had only been in the role for 27 days, unveiled a new cabinet on Sunday that was immediately condemned from across the political spectrum for containing too many of the same faces from the previous government. He resigned on Monday morning.

\n

By Monday evening, Lecornu had accepted Macron's request to spend 48 hours trying to salvage his administration in talks with lawmakers, aiming to win cross-party guarantees for a stable cabinet, address critics' concerns, and avert fresh elections.

\n

He was due to meet party leaders at the prime minister's office on Tuesday evening in an attempt to break the political impasse that has paralyzed French governance for more than a year.

\n

According to an aide, Lecornu is to conduct "final negotiations by Wednesday evening to define a platform of action and stability for the country".

\n

Lecornu announced on social media: "I have accepted, at the request of the president, to hold final discussions with the political forces for the stability of the country.

\n

"I will tell the head of state on Wednesday evening whether this is possible or not, so that he can draw all the necessary conclusions."

\n

It is only one month ago that Macron originally tasked 39-year-old Lecornu with forming a government after parliament toppled his predecessor over an austerity budget.

\n

A presidential official said Macron would "assume his responsibilities" if the talks fail — widely read as a hint at fresh elections, reported French media.

\n

Adding to the confusion, Lecornu indicated that even if the talks succeeded, he did not want to return as prime minister, according to television channel BFMTV.

\n

If Macron chooses to appoint a new prime minister, it would be the eighth of his presidency.

\n

Former prime minister Edouard Philippe backed an early presidential election amid the crisis, telling RTL he supports returning to voters after Lecornu's resignation. Farright National Rally leader Jordan Bardella echoed the call, urging a dissolution of parliament first, then new parliamentary or early presidential elections.

\n

France's financial and political turbulence fits a wider global pattern, according to analysis from The Guardian newspaper.

\n

Each country's politics differ, but the backdrop is similar, it said, noting that many governments accumulated heavy debts during the global financial crisis and again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

\n

Those debts were sustainable while interest rates stayed low. After the pandemic, however, the central banks raised rates to curb inflation driven by reopening economies, and then by further price pressures from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

\n

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "content": "

In a bid to save his country from further political turmoil, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to return to work just hours after accepting his resignation on Monday.

\n

Lecornu, who had only been in the role for 27 days, unveiled a new cabinet on Sunday that was immediately condemned from across the political spectrum for containing too many of the same faces from the previous government. He resigned on Monday morning.

\n

By Monday evening, Lecornu had accepted Macron's request to spend 48 hours trying to salvage his administration in talks with lawmakers, aiming to win cross-party guarantees for a stable cabinet, address critics' concerns, and avert fresh elections.

\n

He was due to meet party leaders at the prime minister's office on Tuesday evening in an attempt to break the political impasse that has paralyzed French governance for more than a year.

\n

According to an aide, Lecornu is to conduct "final negotiations by Wednesday evening to define a platform of action and stability for the country".

\n

Lecornu announced on social media: "I have accepted, at the request of the president, to hold final discussions with the political forces for the stability of the country.

\n

"I will tell the head of state on Wednesday evening whether this is possible or not, so that he can draw all the necessary conclusions."

\n

It is only one month ago that Macron originally tasked 39-year-old Lecornu with forming a government after parliament toppled his predecessor over an austerity budget.

\n

A presidential official said Macron would "assume his responsibilities" if the talks fail — widely read as a hint at fresh elections, reported French media.

\n

Adding to the confusion, Lecornu indicated that even if the talks succeeded, he did not want to return as prime minister, according to television channel BFMTV.

\n

If Macron chooses to appoint a new prime minister, it would be the eighth of his presidency.

\n

Former prime minister Edouard Philippe backed an early presidential election amid the crisis, telling RTL he supports returning to voters after Lecornu's resignation. Farright National Rally leader Jordan Bardella echoed the call, urging a dissolution of parliament first, then new parliamentary or early presidential elections.

\n

France's financial and political turbulence fits a wider global pattern, according to analysis from The Guardian newspaper.

\n

Each country's politics differ, but the backdrop is similar, it said, noting that many governments accumulated heavy debts during the global financial crisis and again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

\n

Those debts were sustainable while interest rates stayed low. After the pandemic, however, the central banks raised rates to curb inflation driven by reopening economies, and then by further price pressures from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

\n

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_004_68e570f8ed50ccabe151abaa.htm#004WORLD", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "d67e709b7c3709975697bc45b60e3a59", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "004WORLD - Deadly disaster", "description": "

Rescue workers pray after a closing ceremony marking the end of search operations at the site of the collapsed school in East Java, Indonesia, on Tuesday. After nine days of work, the team members recovered 67 bodies.

\n

", @@ -11973,28 +11863,6 @@ "hash": "10f72907ca5fa7f96a9be2054b99559a", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "005PEOPLE - Stories of the times and humanity told through a lens", - "description": "

A pair of lovers in northern Shaanxi province in 1982.

\n

Hu attends a documentary photography salon in Xi'an, Shaanxi, on Sept 7.

\n\n

When Hu Wugong picked up a borrowed camera in 1967, he didn't gaze upon grand landscapes or revolutionary scenes. Instead, he turned inward — to the small world of his parents and sister. These early photographs, simple and heartwarming, contained the seeds of a philosophy that would shape his life: the essence of photography lies in people.

\n

In the 1980s, as China entered an era of reform and opening-up, Hu immersed himself in the villages and towns of his native Shaanxi province. His lens captured festivals shrouded in incense, funerals woven with sorrow and ritual, and weddings where stubborn traditions collided with modern ambitions. "I don't study folklore," he once said. "I study the cultural psychology of specific groups as reflected in folklore."

\n

This subtle distinction marks him as more than just a recordkeeper of folklore. His work is never nostalgic, nor is it simply a record of fading customs. Rather, it is a critical realism — an attempt to understand how history and change are imprinted on the faces and rituals of ordinary people. In the mid-1980s, Hu found like-minded individuals in a loose group of Shaanxi photographers — including Hou Dengke, Li Shaotong, Shi Baoxiu, Pan Ke, Jiao Jingquan, Qiu Xiaoming and Li Shengli. Collectively, they became known as the "Shaanxi School", a movement of image-makers that rejected fabrication and affectation, embracing reality itself as a profound source of metaphor.

\n

Their credo was simple: oppose falsehood, reject manipulation and focus on human nature. The group later became influential, though critics accused them of being conservative and overly clinging to documentary photography orthodoxy. Hu retorted, "Just because we don't engage in contemporary art doesn't mean we're conservative. Our weaknesses lie in our aesthetic and philosophical foundations, not our convictions."

\n

For Hu, the challenge remains how to maintain the relevance of photography amid shifting aesthetics and contemporary technological change. Recently, when asked about the advent of new technology, he didn't dismiss it. "The emergence of technology such as smartphones and artificial intelligence is humanity's most dazzling epoch-making achievement in the 21st century," he said. "They are more than just a technology or a tool; AI, in particular, has the potential to develop into a species, propelling the Earth into a post-human era."

\n

However, he insists that AI cannot replace the witness of the camera. "From a temporal perspective, AI resurrects history, while photography solidifies reality. At least for now, the two are not interchangeable. Therefore, time and temporality are the dividing line between AI imaging and traditional photography." He adds that the real danger is that AI could make photographers "lazy or timid, afraid to show their face, reduced to beggars who plagiarize others' work".

\n

For Hu, the antidote lies in self-discipline. "Facing the challenge of AI, the only strategy is to train the photographer's own eye," he says. "The essence of photography is recording. Documentary photography can bear witness to both history and oneself. Facing life directly, putting people first, and revealing human nature — this is the true path."

\n

If the reforms of the 1980s shaped Hu's early aesthetic, they also propelled Chinese documentary photography onto a broader stage. He recalls the 1988 exhibition A Difficult Journey at the National Art Museum of China as a watershed moment. "The rise of documentary photography is essentially a revival of realism, thanks to reform and opening-up and the emancipation of thought," he said. "Photographers have extended their lenses to encompass the vast and profound sea of humanity, society and nature, using the joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of countless individuals to showcase the rich emotions of humanity and the social landscape."

\n

However, Hu admits that some gaps still exist. "Because documentary photography in China started later than in Europe and the United States, there is still a significant gap in theory, practice and professionalism," he said. "The discourse on photography is not on China's side, and many excellent works have not yet been widely disseminated. Chinese documentary photography still needs to work hard to have a broad global influence."

\n

He believes that this effort requires more profound thinking rather than technical expertise. "The key to the development of documentary photography in China lies not in technology, but in liberating thought, shifting perspectives and breaking down the stigmas surrounding photography and culture," he noted. "Photographers must possess independent thought and humanistic artistic concepts, facing reality head-on without evasion or shrinking back."

\n

Although Hu has many titles in academic and photographic circles, he simply refers to himself as a photographer. His work consistently examines and captures life through independent reflection. Only when art is imbued with a thoughtful quality can it be imbued with soul.

\n

Over 70 years old, Hu still captures life with an uneasy seriousness. His photographs — funerals in dusty courtyards, workers resting beneath neon lights, elderly men gazing at the ruins of ancient shrines — are not nostalgia but expressions of continuity. They remind us that history, no matter how swiftly it passes, leaves its mark. In an age where images can be transformed through code, Hu maintains a stubborn and irreplaceable presence, insisting on turning his lens on life itself and pressing the shutter.

\n

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

A pair of lovers in northern Shaanxi province in 1982.

\n

Hu attends a documentary photography salon in Xi'an, Shaanxi, on Sept 7.

\n\n

When Hu Wugong picked up a borrowed camera in 1967, he didn't gaze upon grand landscapes or revolutionary scenes. Instead, he turned inward — to the small world of his parents and sister. These early photographs, simple and heartwarming, contained the seeds of a philosophy that would shape his life: the essence of photography lies in people.

\n

In the 1980s, as China entered an era of reform and opening-up, Hu immersed himself in the villages and towns of his native Shaanxi province. His lens captured festivals shrouded in incense, funerals woven with sorrow and ritual, and weddings where stubborn traditions collided with modern ambitions. "I don't study folklore," he once said. "I study the cultural psychology of specific groups as reflected in folklore."

\n

This subtle distinction marks him as more than just a recordkeeper of folklore. His work is never nostalgic, nor is it simply a record of fading customs. Rather, it is a critical realism — an attempt to understand how history and change are imprinted on the faces and rituals of ordinary people. In the mid-1980s, Hu found like-minded individuals in a loose group of Shaanxi photographers — including Hou Dengke, Li Shaotong, Shi Baoxiu, Pan Ke, Jiao Jingquan, Qiu Xiaoming and Li Shengli. Collectively, they became known as the "Shaanxi School", a movement of image-makers that rejected fabrication and affectation, embracing reality itself as a profound source of metaphor.

\n

Their credo was simple: oppose falsehood, reject manipulation and focus on human nature. The group later became influential, though critics accused them of being conservative and overly clinging to documentary photography orthodoxy. Hu retorted, "Just because we don't engage in contemporary art doesn't mean we're conservative. Our weaknesses lie in our aesthetic and philosophical foundations, not our convictions."

\n

For Hu, the challenge remains how to maintain the relevance of photography amid shifting aesthetics and contemporary technological change. Recently, when asked about the advent of new technology, he didn't dismiss it. "The emergence of technology such as smartphones and artificial intelligence is humanity's most dazzling epoch-making achievement in the 21st century," he said. "They are more than just a technology or a tool; AI, in particular, has the potential to develop into a species, propelling the Earth into a post-human era."

\n

However, he insists that AI cannot replace the witness of the camera. "From a temporal perspective, AI resurrects history, while photography solidifies reality. At least for now, the two are not interchangeable. Therefore, time and temporality are the dividing line between AI imaging and traditional photography." He adds that the real danger is that AI could make photographers "lazy or timid, afraid to show their face, reduced to beggars who plagiarize others' work".

\n

For Hu, the antidote lies in self-discipline. "Facing the challenge of AI, the only strategy is to train the photographer's own eye," he says. "The essence of photography is recording. Documentary photography can bear witness to both history and oneself. Facing life directly, putting people first, and revealing human nature — this is the true path."

\n

If the reforms of the 1980s shaped Hu's early aesthetic, they also propelled Chinese documentary photography onto a broader stage. He recalls the 1988 exhibition A Difficult Journey at the National Art Museum of China as a watershed moment. "The rise of documentary photography is essentially a revival of realism, thanks to reform and opening-up and the emancipation of thought," he said. "Photographers have extended their lenses to encompass the vast and profound sea of humanity, society and nature, using the joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of countless individuals to showcase the rich emotions of humanity and the social landscape."

\n

However, Hu admits that some gaps still exist. "Because documentary photography in China started later than in Europe and the United States, there is still a significant gap in theory, practice and professionalism," he said. "The discourse on photography is not on China's side, and many excellent works have not yet been widely disseminated. Chinese documentary photography still needs to work hard to have a broad global influence."

\n

He believes that this effort requires more profound thinking rather than technical expertise. "The key to the development of documentary photography in China lies not in technology, but in liberating thought, shifting perspectives and breaking down the stigmas surrounding photography and culture," he noted. "Photographers must possess independent thought and humanistic artistic concepts, facing reality head-on without evasion or shrinking back."

\n

Although Hu has many titles in academic and photographic circles, he simply refers to himself as a photographer. His work consistently examines and captures life through independent reflection. Only when art is imbued with a thoughtful quality can it be imbued with soul.

\n

Over 70 years old, Hu still captures life with an uneasy seriousness. His photographs — funerals in dusty courtyards, workers resting beneath neon lights, elderly men gazing at the ruins of ancient shrines — are not nostalgia but expressions of continuity. They remind us that history, no matter how swiftly it passes, leaves its mark. In an age where images can be transformed through code, Hu maintains a stubborn and irreplaceable presence, insisting on turning his lens on life itself and pressing the shutter.

\n

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_005_68e5710aed50ccabe151abae.htm#005PEOPLE", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "23843813a29e67d3e941bd04d5342625", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "005PEOPLE - Vision of dancing beyond the desert with dreams pays off", "description": "

Jin Shumei (front) teaches Healthy Dunhuang Dance in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, in August.

\n

Jin volunteered to teach dance to left-behind children in Yumen, Gansu province.

\n

In the Hexi Corridor of western Gansu province, where the wind strips the earth bare of vegetation and the Gobi swallows grass, Jin Shumei once stood in the canteen of a migrant village school and asked 65 boys — most of them notorious troublemakers — to dance. The teachers had been incredulous. "These children?" they asked. But Jin, founder of Jiuquan's Little Poplar Dance School, who is also vice-chair of Gansu Federation of Literary and Art Circles and council member of China Dancers Association, insisted. She believed that in those very boys whom society had written off, the seeds of transformation might take root.

\n

Dance was Jin's unlikely weapon in the campaign against poverty. When she began her rural education project in 2013, villagers scoffed: how could pliés and pirouettes fill empty bowls? But Jin argued that true poverty was not just economic. It was cultural, even spiritual. Left-behind children, many from divorced or migrant worker families, were dropping out of school in alarming numbers. Girls were told that dancing was "bad", boys that studying was useless. To Jin, the cycle was clear: "The poorer, the less educated; the less educated, the poorer." To break it, she turned to art.

\n

The first rehearsals were chaos — children tumbling out of line, some brawling mid-warm-up, others feigning stomachaches. One boy tested her with a lie about needing hospital care. Jin only smiled and offered to pay his bill herself. The boy's eyes welled up. "My stomach doesn't hurt," he confessed. From that day on, he studied with a zeal that astonished his teachers, earning his first passing grades. Others followed. The "problem kids" stopped fighting, began greeting teachers politely, even turning in homework on time. Art, marveled Zhao Ruheng, then head of the China Dancers Association, "can be so subtle and effective".

\n

Jin knew the subtlety well. She herself had entered dance late as she was already a mother when she trained at the provincial art school. Her classmates mocked her stiff limbs; her teacher called her efforts as a waste of resources. She persevered through bruises, fainting spells and ridicule until, finally, she earned grudging praise. That resilience shaped her belief that every child, however clumsy or unruly, could change through persistence and love.

\n

Jin's vision expanded. With a team of volunteers, she carried a rural children's dance aesthetic education project to dozens of schools, traveling thousands of miles to train teachers who had never set foot in a dance class. In a few years, nearly 30,000 rural children in Gansu had danced steps she choreographed. Some even reached Beijing, where boys from Dushanzi Ethnic School performed on some higher stages, their eyes wide with wonder at skyscrapers and elevators, their feet stamping to rhythms that would later carry them onto national television.

\n

But Jin's work was not only about the children. It was also about cultural roots. Dunhuang — the Silk Road oasis with its celestial murals of flying apsaras — has long been her spiritual home. Out of its grottoes she distilled Healthy Dunhuang Dance, a modern fusion of ancient poses and medical science. In its flowing arcs she wove tai chi, qigong, yoga even anatomy and traditional Chinese medicine. To watch the sequence "the curved three bends of a bodhisattva's form" is to see both a dance and a therapy: stretching bones, calming the mind, stimulating the lungs and intestines, staving off the sedentary ailments of modern life. Published last year as a national tutorial, Healthy Dunhuang Dance represents, in her words, "a way to cultivate both the inner and the outer self".

\n

For Jin, the strands of her life — poverty relief, children's education and Dunhuang's cultural legacy — braid into a single philosophy. Dance is not decoration; it is nourishment. In classrooms stripped of art, she insists on beauty. In villages hollowed out by migration, she insists on dignity. In children dismissed as hopeless, she insists on possibility.

\n

Late at night, after returning from a Hong Kong tour with students, she wept quietly at the gates of Xiaojinwan School. It was exhaustion, yes, but also triumph: she had brought them back not just safely, but changed. In the eyes of those once-restless children — now thinking of becoming teachers themselves — Jin saw her conviction turning into reality. Even the smallest movement, if practiced with care, could redirect a life's course.

\n

", @@ -12017,28 +11885,6 @@ "hash": "c068a8ac6e7331d3fe524f42e7d9857c", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "007IMAGE - The unsung heroes of the heights", - "description": "

Sanitation worker Tu Yousheng collects trash from the cliffs of Tongtian Valley at Tianzhu Mountain, Qianshan city, Anhui province, in May.

\n

Tu Yousheng throws a rope down the cliffs of Tianzhu Mountain, ready to descend and collect trash.

\n

Sanitation workers Ge Xianming (front) and Fang Liping carry trash down from Tianchi peak. They navigate mountain paths with a vertical drop of over 100 meters, covering about 20,000 steps per trip.

\n

In the evening, Jiang Kun (left), head of the Tianzhu mountain sanitation department, and sanitation worker Yang Jiehua patrol the night-tour route, for forest fire prevention.

\n

At 11 pm, after finishing their work, sanitation workers enjoy a bowl of hot porridge to replenish energy.

\n

Sanitation worker Xu Yingsong (left) tends to a wound on Tu Yousheng's hand.

\n

Sanitation worker Tu Bimiao sorts trash at Tianzhu Mountain.

\n

A special team of cliff beauticians is active on Tianzhu Mountain located in Qianshan city, Anhui province. For two decades, over 100 sanitation workers, including Tu Yousheng, have traversed cliffs over a 1,000 meters above sea level day after day to preserve the mountain's pristine appearance by cleaning its cliffs.

\n

These cliff beauticians not only clean up trash discarded by tourists but also frequently risk their lives to retrieve lost items for visitors.

\n

Their hands are calloused, as they guard the beauty of the mountain year in and year out, creating a clean, tidy, and orderly environment for the vast number of tourists.

\n

Every day, these cleaners carry nearly 100 pounds of garbage, walking over 20,000 steps along nearly 100 meters of vertical mountain paths — equivalent to climbing 32 floors.

\n

During holidays and peak tourist seasons, their workload becomes even heavier.

\n

Some cleaners have transitioned to running homestays, but a significant number still remain at their posts.

\n

Faced with the challenge of finding successors, the scenic area plans to experiment with using drones to take over this arduous and high-risk work in the future.

\n

These cliff cleaners have always appealed to tourists to avoid littering, protecting these green mountains and clear waters through their humble efforts.

\n

", - "content": "

Sanitation worker Tu Yousheng collects trash from the cliffs of Tongtian Valley at Tianzhu Mountain, Qianshan city, Anhui province, in May.

\n

Tu Yousheng throws a rope down the cliffs of Tianzhu Mountain, ready to descend and collect trash.

\n

Sanitation workers Ge Xianming (front) and Fang Liping carry trash down from Tianchi peak. They navigate mountain paths with a vertical drop of over 100 meters, covering about 20,000 steps per trip.

\n

In the evening, Jiang Kun (left), head of the Tianzhu mountain sanitation department, and sanitation worker Yang Jiehua patrol the night-tour route, for forest fire prevention.

\n

At 11 pm, after finishing their work, sanitation workers enjoy a bowl of hot porridge to replenish energy.

\n

Sanitation worker Xu Yingsong (left) tends to a wound on Tu Yousheng's hand.

\n

Sanitation worker Tu Bimiao sorts trash at Tianzhu Mountain.

\n

A special team of cliff beauticians is active on Tianzhu Mountain located in Qianshan city, Anhui province. For two decades, over 100 sanitation workers, including Tu Yousheng, have traversed cliffs over a 1,000 meters above sea level day after day to preserve the mountain's pristine appearance by cleaning its cliffs.

\n

These cliff beauticians not only clean up trash discarded by tourists but also frequently risk their lives to retrieve lost items for visitors.

\n

Their hands are calloused, as they guard the beauty of the mountain year in and year out, creating a clean, tidy, and orderly environment for the vast number of tourists.

\n

Every day, these cleaners carry nearly 100 pounds of garbage, walking over 20,000 steps along nearly 100 meters of vertical mountain paths — equivalent to climbing 32 floors.

\n

During holidays and peak tourist seasons, their workload becomes even heavier.

\n

Some cleaners have transitioned to running homestays, but a significant number still remain at their posts.

\n

Faced with the challenge of finding successors, the scenic area plans to experiment with using drones to take over this arduous and high-risk work in the future.

\n

These cliff cleaners have always appealed to tourists to avoid littering, protecting these green mountains and clear waters through their humble efforts.

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_007_68e5711bed50ccabe151abb2.htm#007IMAGE", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "92f37be7e27a1a9fe7f10d3e0cec015d", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "008TREND - Chinese Generation Z youth break traditions with honest talk on death", "description": "

"I first became aware of death at my grandfather's funeral, but it wasn't until three years later that I finally dared to truly talk about how I felt at that moment," said Wang Chen, a 24-year-old master's student, at a death-themed seminar.

\n

At this offline discussion organized by Generation Z youth, dozens of post-90s and post-00s participants are breaking traditional taboos and creating a platform for open conversations about life quality and death.

\n

Gan Huatian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a professor at West China Hospital of Sichuan University, said that he believes that proposing "the implementation of death education among young people nationwide" is highly necessary.

\n

He argues that only by understanding death can one better understand life, and only by facing the topic of death directly can young people develop a sense of reverence for life.

\n

In the Dictionary of Medical Ethics, death education is defined as "education aimed at helping individuals deal objectively with the death of others and themselves." Such education and discussion are particularly important in China, where most people lack knowledge about death yet avoid talking about it. In a study covering 1,000 respondents, over 46 percent stated they lacked the knowledge to confront death, and more than 85 percent said they had never proactively sought death-related counseling.

\n

The lack of death education is especially evident among young people. In November 2021, the Ministry of Education issued the Guide to Integrating Life Safety and Health Education into Primary and Secondary School Curricula, proposing specific measures for "incorporating life education into school curricula and practical education mechanisms".

\n

After revisions, the ministry-edited junior high school textbook on morality and the rule of law added a life education theme. However, content related to death is only briefly mentioned, covering less than two pages in total.

\n

"Our education system teaches us how to handle various exams, but it never teaches us how to face inevitable death," said Wang Hao, a 26-year-old internet industry worker. His father was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, plunging the whole family into the dilemma of "whether to tell him the truth or not". "This kind of sudden death education is too brutal," he added.

\n

This deficiency has led to a chain reaction. A survey from a pilot palliative care hospital in Beijing shows that younger family members are more inclined than older ones to choose "excessive medical treatment" — most respondents aged 25 to 35 admitted it was because they "didn't know what other options were there."

\n

Initiating Change

\n

In cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan in Hubei province, death education salons and seminars are increasingly gaining attention, with most participants belonging to the Gen Z group.

\n

At Tsinghua University, a studentinitiated club called the "life care association", which focused on life quality, is inspiring similar initiatives at other universities across the country.

\n

"Young people are not avoiding death; they just need the right way to talk about it," said a student who frequently participates in life care activities. The WeChat group she belongs to, which discusses related topics, has hundreds of members and holds irregular online sharing sessions. "We've found that when freed from preachings, young people are actually eager to explore the meaning of life."

\n

Death education is also fostering intergenerational dialogue. Zhang Xiao, a 29-year-old, tried to discuss end-of-life wishes with her parents using exhibition booklets but encountered typical Chinese avoidance: "It's bad luck to talk about this." However, she noticed that when the topic was introduced through third-party works, her parents' resistance significantly decreased.

\n

Digital technology is also changing how these conversations happen. Liu Yang, a 25-year-old programmer, expressed his hope to develop a "Life Notes" mini-program to help users document their life stories and final wishes. "Technology allows young people to engage with this ancient topic in a familiar way," he said.

\n

"Death education isn't about making people unafraid of death, it's about helping them understand how to live better," said Su Xin, a 31-year-old head of a volunteer organization. Her team, known as a zhuniantuan (psychological support team), provides counseling to those nearing the end of life and helps families process grief.

\n

"Death education is also part of our work. In practice, we hope families learn to face death. Many people actually gain more strength for life through this process," she said.

\n

", @@ -12061,28 +11907,6 @@ "hash": "bf088394b5be544b1b2695a442a398d1", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "010TRAVEL - Exploring Mongolia's heritage in the wild west", - "description": "

If not for seeing it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that a single county in China could be larger than some provinces — a fact that defines Subei Mongolian autonomous county, nestled in the northwest of Gansu province, bordering Mongolia.

\n

This vast, sprawling land is a tapestry of snowcapped mountains, lush grasslands, serene lakes and the arid Gobi Desert, all while serving as a vibrant hub for the Mongolian ethnic group.

\n

Subei county is predominantly inhabited by the Mongolian ethnic group. Visitors can experience traditional customs, music, dance, cuisine and gain an insight into the lifestyle and traditions of the Mongolian people.

\n

My adventure began with a flight from Beijing to Dunhuang, followed by a two-hour drive through the stark beauty of the Gobi Desert. As we approached Subei, the majestic Qilian Mountains loomed in the distance, their peaks dusted with snow.

\n

To quickly immerse myself in the local culture, I headed straight to the county's intangible cultural heritage center, a sprawling museum that serves as a gateway to the life of the Mongolian ethnic people.

\n

One of the museum's highlights is the costume exhibition hall. Subei Mongolians are known for their distinctive attire, dominated by vibrant reds and blues and adorned with intricate embroidery inspired by nature — floral patterns and animal motifs that reflect a deep reverence for the environment.

\n

Visitors can don these traditional robes for free, and I eagerly slipped into a green Mongolian robe, feeling an instant connection to the heritage around me.

\n

As I explored further, the sound of live music drew me to a performance by the Deji Band, a local group showcasing pure, raw Mongolian melodies. The deep, resonant tones of throat singing (khoomei) blended with the lively strains of the horsehead fiddle (morin khuur) and the rapid beats of a sheepskin drum, created a sensory symphony that transported me to the vast grasslands.

\n

After this cultural immersion, a local friend guided me to the home of an internet-famous grandmother. She welcomed us into her yurt with warmth and generosity. Inside, she had prepared a feast of traditional delicacies, including freshly made yogurt, Mongolian dried curds made from drained and sun-dried curdled milk, salty milk tea, and an assortment of fruits such as grapes and peaches.

\n

Dairy is a staple of the Mongolian diet, and over just one day, I sampled an astonishing variety — from goat and camel milk to mare's milk, which the grandmother insisted on serving fresh, squeezed right from her horses in the backyard. The warm, slightly sweet liquid was a revelation, unlike anything I had ever tried.

\n

Behind her yurt, a small clearing served as an archery range, a nod to the "Three Manly Games" central to Mongolian culture: wrestling, horse racing and archery.

\n

Though I missed the annual Naadam Festival — a summer celebration of these skills — trying my hand at shooting arrows felt like touching a piece of that spirited tradition.

\n

The talented grandmother had also dedicated a yurt to showcase her intricate handicrafts, many of which depicted vibrant animal motifs — a testament to her connection with nature. Part of the majestic Qilian Mountain National Park falls within Subei, where diverse wildlife, including many rare species, thrives in pristine habitats.

\n

To get a closer look at these animals, I headed to the exhibition center of Qilian Mountain National Park in Subei county, established just last year. There, I marveled at lifelike specimens of snow leopards, golden eagles, wild yaks and black-necked cranes.

\n

To truly experience Subei's expansive grasslands, shimmering salt lakes, majestic glaciers and the authentic nomadic lifestyle, one must embark on a five-hour journey into the heart of the pastoral regions.

\n

It's recommended to spend at least three to four days here to get fully immersed in the culture. Sadly, my visit was brief, so I'll cherish these memories and save the deeper exploration for the future.

\n

But if you seek an authentic cultural experience, look no further than Subei — a hidden gem in China's wild west.

\n

", - "content": "

If not for seeing it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that a single county in China could be larger than some provinces — a fact that defines Subei Mongolian autonomous county, nestled in the northwest of Gansu province, bordering Mongolia.

\n

This vast, sprawling land is a tapestry of snowcapped mountains, lush grasslands, serene lakes and the arid Gobi Desert, all while serving as a vibrant hub for the Mongolian ethnic group.

\n

Subei county is predominantly inhabited by the Mongolian ethnic group. Visitors can experience traditional customs, music, dance, cuisine and gain an insight into the lifestyle and traditions of the Mongolian people.

\n

My adventure began with a flight from Beijing to Dunhuang, followed by a two-hour drive through the stark beauty of the Gobi Desert. As we approached Subei, the majestic Qilian Mountains loomed in the distance, their peaks dusted with snow.

\n

To quickly immerse myself in the local culture, I headed straight to the county's intangible cultural heritage center, a sprawling museum that serves as a gateway to the life of the Mongolian ethnic people.

\n

One of the museum's highlights is the costume exhibition hall. Subei Mongolians are known for their distinctive attire, dominated by vibrant reds and blues and adorned with intricate embroidery inspired by nature — floral patterns and animal motifs that reflect a deep reverence for the environment.

\n

Visitors can don these traditional robes for free, and I eagerly slipped into a green Mongolian robe, feeling an instant connection to the heritage around me.

\n

As I explored further, the sound of live music drew me to a performance by the Deji Band, a local group showcasing pure, raw Mongolian melodies. The deep, resonant tones of throat singing (khoomei) blended with the lively strains of the horsehead fiddle (morin khuur) and the rapid beats of a sheepskin drum, created a sensory symphony that transported me to the vast grasslands.

\n

After this cultural immersion, a local friend guided me to the home of an internet-famous grandmother. She welcomed us into her yurt with warmth and generosity. Inside, she had prepared a feast of traditional delicacies, including freshly made yogurt, Mongolian dried curds made from drained and sun-dried curdled milk, salty milk tea, and an assortment of fruits such as grapes and peaches.

\n

Dairy is a staple of the Mongolian diet, and over just one day, I sampled an astonishing variety — from goat and camel milk to mare's milk, which the grandmother insisted on serving fresh, squeezed right from her horses in the backyard. The warm, slightly sweet liquid was a revelation, unlike anything I had ever tried.

\n

Behind her yurt, a small clearing served as an archery range, a nod to the "Three Manly Games" central to Mongolian culture: wrestling, horse racing and archery.

\n

Though I missed the annual Naadam Festival — a summer celebration of these skills — trying my hand at shooting arrows felt like touching a piece of that spirited tradition.

\n

The talented grandmother had also dedicated a yurt to showcase her intricate handicrafts, many of which depicted vibrant animal motifs — a testament to her connection with nature. Part of the majestic Qilian Mountain National Park falls within Subei, where diverse wildlife, including many rare species, thrives in pristine habitats.

\n

To get a closer look at these animals, I headed to the exhibition center of Qilian Mountain National Park in Subei county, established just last year. There, I marveled at lifelike specimens of snow leopards, golden eagles, wild yaks and black-necked cranes.

\n

To truly experience Subei's expansive grasslands, shimmering salt lakes, majestic glaciers and the authentic nomadic lifestyle, one must embark on a five-hour journey into the heart of the pastoral regions.

\n

It's recommended to spend at least three to four days here to get fully immersed in the culture. Sadly, my visit was brief, so I'll cherish these memories and save the deeper exploration for the future.

\n

But if you seek an authentic cultural experience, look no further than Subei — a hidden gem in China's wild west.

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_010_68e57134ed50ccabe151abb8.htm#010TRAVEL", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "ec967e5065d6a424f7b952ea01d475b3", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "012SPORTS - Liverpool needs Mo effort", "description": "

Winner of last season's Premier League Golden Boot, Mohamed Salah has netted just three in his last nine games across all competitions this season, and his lack of effort defensively has left the side exposed, particularly in recent defeats to Crystal Palace and Chelsea.

\n

LONDON — Mohamed Salah is Liverpool's "Egyptian King", but the forward's crown has lost a little of its luster during a disappointing spell in which his work ethic has come under fire.

\n

Salah was below his best again in Liverpool's damaging 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, wasting several chances and failing to help out in defense.

\n

He has been absent from the scoresheet in five of Liverpool's seven Premier League games this season, and the champion has suffered as a result. The loss at Stamford Bridge was Liverpool's third in eight days, as Arsenal leapfrogged it into the top spot in the table.

\n

Salah has scored just three goals and provided three assists in nine appearances in all competitions this season. Even more alarming than Salah's statistics, mediocre by his stellar standards, was the sight of the 33-year-old taking little interest when Liverpool was under siege against Chelsea.

\n

Without any protection from the forward, Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley was hauled off at halftime after earning a booking as he struggled to keep Chelsea at bay.

\n

The killer ball for Estevao Willian's stoppage-time winner came from Salah's right flank, with Marc Cucurella advancing unchecked to set up the Brazilian's goal.

\n

Cucurella revealed Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca told them to exploit the defensive space left by Salah.

\n

"We know that Salah is always ready for the counterattack, so we practiced that, and the manager said that the space might be there," he said.

\n

Salah's lethargic display was in keeping with a major dip in form since the closing stages of last season.

\n

He scored 29 goals in 38 league matches, earning the Premier League Golden Boot, as Liverpool powered to a record-equalling 20th English title.

\n

But, after scoring twice in a 3-1 win against Southampton in March, Salah's influence has waned.

\n

'You need to help'

\n

He netted just twice in his last 11 games in all competitions, with Liverpool crashing out of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain during his power outage.

\n

After Liverpool clinched the Premier League title, Salah boasted he had convinced Reds boss Arne Slot to let him concentrate on scoring and creating at the expense of defending.

\n

"I told him as long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively. I will show you the numbers. So, I'm glad that I did," he said.

\n

But, giving Salah so much freedom is starting to backfire, as opponents exploit the gaping holes resulting from that plan.

\n

Former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney has joined the growing chorus of disapproval over Salah's work rate.

\n

"We know he doesn't always get back and defend as much, but in the Chelsea game, his fullback is getting torn apart and he's just watching," he said on the BBC's Wayne Rooney Show.

\n

"When it's going well and you are scoring goals, the team will put up with that. But, over the last week, I'd question his work ethic.

\n

"Those leaders in that dressing room should be telling him: 'You need to help out'. He's looked a little bit lost over the last week."

\n

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy agrees with Rooney.

\n

"It feels like Mohamed Salah's lack of defensive work has become a little bit of a problem for Liverpool, especially against the better teams," he said.

\n

Slot must solve the issue if Liverpool is to emerge from its malaise.

\n

Intriguingly, he left Salah on the bench for the first hour of last week's Champions League defeat at Galatasaray, while conceding that decision might have led to his lack of sharpness against Chelsea.

\n

"That's interesting. Did he create so much because he didn't play during the week, or did he miss the chances because he missed a bit of sharpness that he could have had if he had played against Galatasaray? We will never know," the Dutchman said.

\n

For now, Slot is preaching patience as he looks to get Salah back on track.

\n

"It's not like every chance he gets is always a goal," Slot said.

\n

"We feel sometimes it is, because of what he has done so many times before, but, yeah, he is a human being."

\n

", @@ -12105,28 +11929,6 @@ "hash": "e15b422236ad99de69dba6b1ff53fb3c", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "012SPORTS - 'Terrible' Zverev crashes out in sultry Shanghai", - "description": "

Germany's Alexander Zverev serves to France's Arthur Rinderknech during their men's singles match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Monday.

\n

A spectator cools himself with a fan at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. With players wilting in punishing conditions, the ATP is considering adopting a formal heat rule.

\n

SHANGHAI — World No 3 Alexander Zverev said he was playing "terrible tennis" after he was knocked out of the Rolex Shanghai Masters by France's Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.

\n

In stiflingly humid conditions, the 54th-ranked Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission.

\n

It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year.

\n

A despondent Zverev told reporters that the match had been "nothing unusual for me these days, unfortunately".

\n

"Just no confidence, no belief in the shots," he said, visibly emotional.

\n

"My year has been terrible, I'm just playing terrible tennis all round."

\n

The German had injured his big toe towards the end of his last match in Shanghai, but on Monday showed no sign of discomfort as he broke Rinderknech in the third game with a forehand.

\n

He nearly went ahead early in the second set, but Rinderknech recovered his composure and broke in the fourth game.

\n

"I'm not really sure (how I managed to turn the game around)," he said.

\n

"I fought like hell, tried everything. (Zverev) is such a good player. I knew it was going to be a battle.

\n

"Starting in the second set, I was able to be offensive at the right moment, in a smarter way," he said.

\n

Keeping up the momentum, in the third set, the 30-year-old broke in the third game.

\n

Zverev had to pause to change his shoes, because sweat was pouring out of them, as spectators wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the suffocating humidity.

\n

But switching footwear was not enough to save the German, and a double fault in the seventh game led to Rinderknech breaking again.

\n

Holding with an ace to win, the Frenchman lolled his body in delighted disbelief, then danced around the court in glee.

\n

Top seeds vanquished

\n

Zverev's loss meant that Serbia's world No 5 Novak Djokovic was the top-ranked player as the tournament headed into the last 16 on Tuesday.

\n

On Sunday, the competition lost both defending champion, Italian and world No 2 Jannik Sinner, who was forced to retire with extreme leg cramps, and fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz of United States.

\n

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Shanghai event at the last minute to rest.

\n

After Djokovic, Australian Alex de Minaur is the next highest seed through to the fourth round, comfortably getting past Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 7-5.

\n

De Minaur will next meet Portugal's Nuno Borges, who, on Monday, put an end to the hopes of home favorite Shang Juncheng 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.

\n

Daniil Medvedev, the 2019 Shanghai champion, is through too, after beating Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-6 (5).

\n

"I haven't had a title in two years, so (I'm) not a favorite yet, but I will take it match by match, and I'm happy with the way I've played so far," he said.

\n

The Russian broke early to take the first set, before edging a sweat-soaked tiebreak in the second.

\n

Medvedev said he relished the conditions.

\n

"Whenever it's above 28 and humid, I suffer and many players don't. Here, everyone suffers," he grinned.

\n

He will once again take on US teenager Learner Tien, who defeated him last week in the China Open semifinal.

\n

The 19-year-old beat Britain's Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-3 to make the last 16 on Monday.

\n

ATP considers heat policy

\n

The governing body of men's tennis could consider a formal heat rule after a string of retirements at the Shanghai Masters blew the draw wide open, with top players wilting in the soaring temperatures and punishing humidity.

\n

Sinner's title defense ended in agony on Sunday, when the Italian struggled to walk due to cramp in his right thigh, before he eventually retired in the deciding set of his third-round clash with Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

\n

Djokovic vomited during his encounter with Yannick Hanfmann while Denmark's Holger Rune was heard asking an official during a medical timeout in his match with France's Ugo Humbert if players had to "die on court".

\n

"It's the same for every player out on the court, but it's brutal," Djokovic said after he battled to victory.

\n

"It's brutal when you have over 80 percent humidity day after day, particularly for the guys playing during the day with the heat, with the sun, it's even more brutal."

\n

The need for a formal ATP heat rule was first flagged in August in Cincinnati, when Rinderknech collapsed on court during a match in sweltering conditions, before eventually handing Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime the victory.

\n

Under ATP regulations, decisions on the suspension of play due to adverse weather conditions — including extreme heat — lie with an on-site ATP supervisor, who coordinates with medical teams at the venue, as well as local authorities.

\n

"In parallel, the ATP Medical Services team implements several measures in cases of extreme heat, to help protect player health during competition," the governing body told reporters.

\n

However, the elite body said it was open to change.

\n

"This remains under active review and additional measures including the implementation of an official heat policy are currently being evaluated in consultation with players, tournaments, and medical experts," it added.

\n

"Player safety remains a top priority for the ATP."

\n

", - "content": "

Germany's Alexander Zverev serves to France's Arthur Rinderknech during their men's singles match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Monday.

\n

A spectator cools himself with a fan at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. With players wilting in punishing conditions, the ATP is considering adopting a formal heat rule.

\n

SHANGHAI — World No 3 Alexander Zverev said he was playing "terrible tennis" after he was knocked out of the Rolex Shanghai Masters by France's Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.

\n

In stiflingly humid conditions, the 54th-ranked Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission.

\n

It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year.

\n

A despondent Zverev told reporters that the match had been "nothing unusual for me these days, unfortunately".

\n

"Just no confidence, no belief in the shots," he said, visibly emotional.

\n

"My year has been terrible, I'm just playing terrible tennis all round."

\n

The German had injured his big toe towards the end of his last match in Shanghai, but on Monday showed no sign of discomfort as he broke Rinderknech in the third game with a forehand.

\n

He nearly went ahead early in the second set, but Rinderknech recovered his composure and broke in the fourth game.

\n

"I'm not really sure (how I managed to turn the game around)," he said.

\n

"I fought like hell, tried everything. (Zverev) is such a good player. I knew it was going to be a battle.

\n

"Starting in the second set, I was able to be offensive at the right moment, in a smarter way," he said.

\n

Keeping up the momentum, in the third set, the 30-year-old broke in the third game.

\n

Zverev had to pause to change his shoes, because sweat was pouring out of them, as spectators wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the suffocating humidity.

\n

But switching footwear was not enough to save the German, and a double fault in the seventh game led to Rinderknech breaking again.

\n

Holding with an ace to win, the Frenchman lolled his body in delighted disbelief, then danced around the court in glee.

\n

Top seeds vanquished

\n

Zverev's loss meant that Serbia's world No 5 Novak Djokovic was the top-ranked player as the tournament headed into the last 16 on Tuesday.

\n

On Sunday, the competition lost both defending champion, Italian and world No 2 Jannik Sinner, who was forced to retire with extreme leg cramps, and fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz of United States.

\n

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the Shanghai event at the last minute to rest.

\n

After Djokovic, Australian Alex de Minaur is the next highest seed through to the fourth round, comfortably getting past Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 7-5.

\n

De Minaur will next meet Portugal's Nuno Borges, who, on Monday, put an end to the hopes of home favorite Shang Juncheng 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.

\n

Daniil Medvedev, the 2019 Shanghai champion, is through too, after beating Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-6 (5).

\n

"I haven't had a title in two years, so (I'm) not a favorite yet, but I will take it match by match, and I'm happy with the way I've played so far," he said.

\n

The Russian broke early to take the first set, before edging a sweat-soaked tiebreak in the second.

\n

Medvedev said he relished the conditions.

\n

"Whenever it's above 28 and humid, I suffer and many players don't. Here, everyone suffers," he grinned.

\n

He will once again take on US teenager Learner Tien, who defeated him last week in the China Open semifinal.

\n

The 19-year-old beat Britain's Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4), 6-3 to make the last 16 on Monday.

\n

ATP considers heat policy

\n

The governing body of men's tennis could consider a formal heat rule after a string of retirements at the Shanghai Masters blew the draw wide open, with top players wilting in the soaring temperatures and punishing humidity.

\n

Sinner's title defense ended in agony on Sunday, when the Italian struggled to walk due to cramp in his right thigh, before he eventually retired in the deciding set of his third-round clash with Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

\n

Djokovic vomited during his encounter with Yannick Hanfmann while Denmark's Holger Rune was heard asking an official during a medical timeout in his match with France's Ugo Humbert if players had to "die on court".

\n

"It's the same for every player out on the court, but it's brutal," Djokovic said after he battled to victory.

\n

"It's brutal when you have over 80 percent humidity day after day, particularly for the guys playing during the day with the heat, with the sun, it's even more brutal."

\n

The need for a formal ATP heat rule was first flagged in August in Cincinnati, when Rinderknech collapsed on court during a match in sweltering conditions, before eventually handing Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime the victory.

\n

Under ATP regulations, decisions on the suspension of play due to adverse weather conditions — including extreme heat — lie with an on-site ATP supervisor, who coordinates with medical teams at the venue, as well as local authorities.

\n

"In parallel, the ATP Medical Services team implements several measures in cases of extreme heat, to help protect player health during competition," the governing body told reporters.

\n

However, the elite body said it was open to change.

\n

"This remains under active review and additional measures including the implementation of an official heat policy are currently being evaluated in consultation with players, tournaments, and medical experts," it added.

\n

"Player safety remains a top priority for the ATP."

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/08/content_012_68e57145ed50ccabe151abbc.htm#012SPORTS", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "66da54503d59df770c2050afe7b93b59", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "001FRONT - HARVEST FESTIVAL BECOMES A FEAST FOR FARMERS AND CONSUMERS", "description": "

A vendor sells garlic during a Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival event in Tianjin on Sept 23.

\n

Pomegranate grower Liu Yuan (center) hits the stage with performers in promoting the produce during a festival activity in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province, on Sept 23.

\n

People shop during the Egg Promotion Fair in Zhuozhou, Hebei province, last month.

\n

Growers promote pears during a livestreaming session at an orchard in Dangshan, Anhui province, on Sept 13.

\n

On a Sunday morning in late September, at a sprawling farm in Zhuozhou in Hebei province, several children gathered around tables to solve the "egg shell puzzle" and take the "egg protection challenge" while their parents chatted with farmers and industry representatives. This was the 2025 Egg Promotion Fair, part of the nationwide Golden Autumn Consumption Season tied to the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival. With 70 booths bringing together enterprises, farmers and consumers from across the country, the event turned a common staple — the humble egg — into a connection between rural and urban life.

\n

Exhibitors at the fair ranged from major producers such as Beijing Deqingyuan to small cooperatives. They presented goods from fresh eggs and seasoned products, including marinated eggs and egg yolk pastries, to powdered egg protein and even delicate handicrafts made from egg shells.

\n

"Eggs are more than just a daily food," said Yan Kuiyou, chief expert with the National Animal Husbandry Service. "They are vital to food security, a cost-effective source of protein, and a key to farmers' livelihoods."

\n

Yan said consumer demand for eggs is moving beyond basic protein supplementation toward more precise nutritional goals. "With consumption trends shifting toward healthier, traceable and more diverse products, this sector has huge potential," he said. Shoppers are increasingly seeking eggs that target specific health concerns, such as eggs enriched with omega-3 fatty acids for improving brain health and low-cholesterol eggs for seniors.

\n

With the advent of urban lifestyles, ready-to-eat egg products such as marinated eggs and liquid egg cartons are also gaining popularity, especially among younger consumers, Yan added.

\n

Wu Shugeng, head of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' expert team on eggs and the event organizer, said the fair aimed to develop direct connections between suppliers and consumers. Visitors could tour the farm to see the full cycle of production, from feed processing to the making of organic fertilizer. "Eggs are a perfect entry point to promote agricultural consumption. They are found on every family's table," Wu said.

\n

China is both the world's largest producer and consumer of eggs. But the industry faces challenges such as insufficient branding and not enough processing facilities. The fair highlighted the push toward standardized and technology-driven growth, Wu said.

\n

Apart from videos about new farming technologies, experts answered questions face-to-face, addressing common misconceptions, including whether brown-shelled eggs were healthier than white ones, or if "native eggs" were more nutritious.

\n

Lu Jianzhong, deputy head of the Institute of Feed Research at the academy, said consumers would get to see the transformation of modern agriculture. "We hope people not only eat better eggs but understand the science and culture behind them, while helping farmers earn more," he said.

\n

The fair provided farmers and enterprises with win-win direct sales opportunities. Buyers from supermarkets, restaurants and e-commerce platforms signed deals on the spot, helping secure fairer prices. Platforms such as Pinduoduo and JD offered promotional support, boosting visibility for high-quality brands.

\n

"Celebrating harvest is not only about abundance but about building bridges between science and tradition, the countryside and cities, farmers and consumers," Wu said.

\n

Rural fairs fuel sales

\n

From colorful rural fairs to bustling livestreaming studios, the Golden Autumn Consumption Season has turned the nation's harvest into a feast for both farmers and consumers.

\n

Launched alongside the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival several years ago, the autumn consumption season is now one of its signature events. "Agricultural products should not only be grown well, but also sold well, with good returns for farmers," said Lei Liugong, head of the festival's organizing office, at a news conference in August.

\n

Several sectors have joined over the years to promote consumption in diverse forms, attracting urban residents to the countryside and smoothening the flow between rural supply and urban demand, said Lei, who is also head of the market and information department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

\n

According to the ministry, the event has so far generated more than 130 billion yuan ($18.3 billion) in cumulative agricultural sales and has become the festival highlight known for its strong "holiday flavor, popularity and vibrant consumption".

\n

Boosting consumption has been one of the priorities of China's economic agenda this year. In July, 10 central government departments jointly released an implementation plan to expand agricultural product consumption.

\n

Lei said this year's season features richer content, more benefits for consumers and closer urban-rural connections. For the first time, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has joined as a co-organizer, along with Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and the China Media Group.

\n

Running from September to November, the event now links farm produce with cultural and tourism resources, encouraging not only "buying" but also "seeing, playing, learning and creating". The goal is to bring people to the countryside and vitalize the rural consumption market, Lei said.

\n

Industry associations, e-commerce platforms and financial institutions have chipped in with attractive incentives. Six companies, including JD, Pinduoduo and Meituan, have launched promotions with subsidies, internet traffic support and training for merchants while popular livestream anchors have been mobilized to help farmers sell their produce. Eight financial institutions, including the Agricultural Bank of China and the China Construction Bank, are offering consumption vouchers and discount coupons to fuel sales.

\n

Zeng Hao, senior director of public affairs at Pinduoduo, told China Central Television that the company would step up marketing support for quality agricultural products, with 1 billion yuan in subsidies and a 2 billion yuan traffic package to help emerging merchants.

\n

Shen Guoji, an official with the Agriculture Ministry's market and information department, said more than 600,000 merchants are expected to participate. "Through the golden autumn consumption season, we are rolling out practical, people-centered initiatives that tap into rural and urban consumption potential," he said.

\n

Hangzhou flavor

\n

In Hangzhou, a hub of e-commerce and livestreaming industries in Zhejiang province, the autumn harvest festival opened on Sept 5. Local residents sampled new agricultural products and engaged in rural cultural experiences. At one booth, Zhao Jiahui from the Xiaoshan Gift Supply and Marketing Co presented a mooncake filled with traditional radish pickle. "It sounds unusual, but once people tried it, they found the flavor surprisingly good," Zhao said.

\n

Another exhibitor, Zhejiang Chuanhua Rural Development Co, displayed orchids. The company has bred more than 500 varieties of the flower. "Orchids have become a refined gifting option for families and friends," said the product curator Ma Caihong.

\n

Many cities, including Tianjin, Shenyang in Liaoning province, Wuhan in Hubei province, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Lanzhou in Gansu province have pledged to integrate resources in finance, technology and talent to host celebrations that combine the Farmers' Harvest Festival with the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday.

\n

From stalls selling traditional snacks to cultural tours of villages, the activities are designed to ensure both rural and urban residents share the joy of harvest and prosperity.

\n

The consumption season is not limited to buying and selling though. Online and offline events are adding flavor to the festival. Visitors can enjoy rural stays, countryside food tours, handicraft workshops and entertainment alongside shopping, Lei said.

\n

"This year we are making consumption promotion a priority, so that the fruits of harvest can better translate into farmers' income," said Zhu Xuefeng, an official with the agriculture and rural affairs department of Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

\n

During the festival, Fujian province and Ningxia will jointly host events linking rural fairs across the region to feature tastings of delicacies, specialty snacks and premium agricultural products, Zhu said. The program will also extend to rural stays, countryside tours and dining, encouraging urban residents to travel to villages and boost consumption, he added.

\n

zhaoyimeng@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12149,28 +11951,6 @@ "hash": "b173e2f81b401310c06207cbd28d5a16", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "001FRONT - China's pledge sets green stage for ASEAN", - "description": "

China's commitment to further reducing emissions and boosting renewable energy production is expected to encourage Southeast Asian economies to accelerate their low-carbon transition, analysts said.

\n

The move toward decarbonization is also expected to raise investment in renewable energy among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as China is one of ASEAN's biggest investors and trading partners in clean technology.

\n

"China is setting the stage for ASEAN countries to increase their confidence in green, low-carbon transition while making economic growth a priority," said Dinita Setyawati, a senior analyst at global energy policy think tank Ember.

\n

Cesar Carlito Baclagon, regional finance campaigner at 350.org, an international environmental group, said that China's plan to cut emissions and increase renewable energy production is significant for ASEAN, because this means Chinese factories will keep producing affordable solar panels, wind turbines and batteries that have long powered the renewable energy sector in ASEAN states.

\n

"China's pledge could spur more renewable investment in ASEAN by sustaining low-cost technology and signaling investors that the age of coal is fading," he added.

\n

In a video speech delivered to the UN Climate Summit held in New York on Sept 24, President Xi Jinping noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a pivotal year for countries to submit their new Nationally Determined Contributions, and announced China's new NDCs.

\n

Xi said that China will, by 2035, reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels, striving to do better. It will within the same period increase the share of nonfossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent and expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over six times the 2020 levels, striving to bring the total to 3,600 gigawatts, he said.

\n

China will, by 2035, also scale up the total forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters, make new energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles, expand the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market to cover major high-emission sectors, and establish a climate adaptive society, he added.

\n

Xi's announcement carries significant weight ahead of the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference, or COP30, which is scheduled in Belem, Brazil, from Nov 10 to 21. Signatories to the Paris climate pact, which includes China and ASEAN members, will submit their respective NDCs at COP30.

\n

Setyawati, the senior analyst, said that while China's NDCs cover domestic commitments, these will also have implications for ASEAN members. By investing heavily in renewables, China is treading a new growth path — one that is powered by clean energy and one that ASEAN governments should take note of as soon as possible, she said.

\n

Setyawati also cited China's focus on solar and wind power as homegrown energy sources, indicating that the country is moving toward "a more secure and resilient energy system".She said this will possibly encourage China to invest more in ASEAN states on the back of a possible exponential growth in clean technology.

\n

According to a report released by global think tank Zero Carbon Analytics, China has invested over $2.7 billion in clean energy in ASEAN states between 2013 and 2023. It also led in clean energy trade with ASEAN, valued at $4.3 billion due to strong exports of electric vehicles, batteries, solar modules and wind components.

\n

Baclagon, the finance campaigner, said that what China does beyond its borders is important because its energy investment and infrastructure financing in Asia are the real tests of its climate commitments.

\n

Sharon Seah, a senior fellow at Singapore-based think tank ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said that ASEAN is "fully committed" to decarbonization as shown by the investment in an ASEAN Common Carbon Framework.

\n

Malaysia, which is this year's rotating chair of ASEAN, has also given the ASEAN Power Grid — a key physical interconnectivity project — new momentum by pushing for greater coordination between energy, economy and finance ministries and central banks to ensure there is a financing mechanism to realize many of the planned projects, Seah said.

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "content": "

China's commitment to further reducing emissions and boosting renewable energy production is expected to encourage Southeast Asian economies to accelerate their low-carbon transition, analysts said.

\n

The move toward decarbonization is also expected to raise investment in renewable energy among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as China is one of ASEAN's biggest investors and trading partners in clean technology.

\n

"China is setting the stage for ASEAN countries to increase their confidence in green, low-carbon transition while making economic growth a priority," said Dinita Setyawati, a senior analyst at global energy policy think tank Ember.

\n

Cesar Carlito Baclagon, regional finance campaigner at 350.org, an international environmental group, said that China's plan to cut emissions and increase renewable energy production is significant for ASEAN, because this means Chinese factories will keep producing affordable solar panels, wind turbines and batteries that have long powered the renewable energy sector in ASEAN states.

\n

"China's pledge could spur more renewable investment in ASEAN by sustaining low-cost technology and signaling investors that the age of coal is fading," he added.

\n

In a video speech delivered to the UN Climate Summit held in New York on Sept 24, President Xi Jinping noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a pivotal year for countries to submit their new Nationally Determined Contributions, and announced China's new NDCs.

\n

Xi said that China will, by 2035, reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels, striving to do better. It will within the same period increase the share of nonfossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent and expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over six times the 2020 levels, striving to bring the total to 3,600 gigawatts, he said.

\n

China will, by 2035, also scale up the total forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters, make new energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles, expand the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market to cover major high-emission sectors, and establish a climate adaptive society, he added.

\n

Xi's announcement carries significant weight ahead of the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference, or COP30, which is scheduled in Belem, Brazil, from Nov 10 to 21. Signatories to the Paris climate pact, which includes China and ASEAN members, will submit their respective NDCs at COP30.

\n

Setyawati, the senior analyst, said that while China's NDCs cover domestic commitments, these will also have implications for ASEAN members. By investing heavily in renewables, China is treading a new growth path — one that is powered by clean energy and one that ASEAN governments should take note of as soon as possible, she said.

\n

Setyawati also cited China's focus on solar and wind power as homegrown energy sources, indicating that the country is moving toward "a more secure and resilient energy system".She said this will possibly encourage China to invest more in ASEAN states on the back of a possible exponential growth in clean technology.

\n

According to a report released by global think tank Zero Carbon Analytics, China has invested over $2.7 billion in clean energy in ASEAN states between 2013 and 2023. It also led in clean energy trade with ASEAN, valued at $4.3 billion due to strong exports of electric vehicles, batteries, solar modules and wind components.

\n

Baclagon, the finance campaigner, said that what China does beyond its borders is important because its energy investment and infrastructure financing in Asia are the real tests of its climate commitments.

\n

Sharon Seah, a senior fellow at Singapore-based think tank ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said that ASEAN is "fully committed" to decarbonization as shown by the investment in an ASEAN Common Carbon Framework.

\n

Malaysia, which is this year's rotating chair of ASEAN, has also given the ASEAN Power Grid — a key physical interconnectivity project — new momentum by pushing for greater coordination between energy, economy and finance ministries and central banks to ensure there is a financing mechanism to realize many of the planned projects, Seah said.

\n

prime@chinadailyapac.com

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_001_68e41cd5ed50ccabe151ab01.htm#001FRONT", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "78be91f2e0b169f02f9ffb58ea2acf70", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "001FRONT - Hikers hit by Xizang snowstorm rescued", "description": "

A total of 350 hikers who were caught in a snowstorm on the eastern slopes of Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, have been relocated to safety, while the rest of over 200 hikers will be soon guided to reception points, local authorities said on Monday.

\n

Heavy snowfall hit the Gamagou area of Chudeng township in Dingri county, Xizang autonomous region, on Saturday night, trapping hundreds of visitors to the region.

\n

To ensure their safety, the county government immediately mobilized teams to provide communication and service support and to evacuate them to reception points in Chudeng.

\n

As of 11 am on Monday, all tourists at the reception points were safely relocated to hotels in Chudeng and its surrounding areas, according to the authorities. Cold-proof supplies have been distributed, meal services ensured and medical check-ups arranged, they said.

\n

A staff member of the Qomolangma scenic area, who asked to be identified as Yeshe, told National Business Daily that 60 to 80 people at the Qomolangma Base Camp were safely evacuated by Sunday morning, and no injuries were reported.

\n

The rescue efforts were focused on the 55-kilometer-long Gamagou valley, where the altitude ranges from 2,100 meters to over 5,000 meters, Yeshe said.

\n

Located in the core area of the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve, the valley boasts one of the world's top 10 classic hiking routes. The only means of transportation there are yaks and horses, Yeshe added.

\n

Dong Shuchang, a photographer with a lot of hiking experience in the Qomolangma scenic area, said this snowstorm was the worst he had ever seen.

\n

"We had just reached the first camp on the eastern slopes when the snowstorm hit the area. Even with a raincoat and an outdoor jacket on, I got soaked; and a layer of ice formed on my jacket," Dong said.

\n

In some places, the depth of snow reached about 1 meter, Dong said, noting that despite such inclement weather, rescue teams arrived on time and cleared the road by Sunday noon. "Food supplies were also timely and adequate," he added.

\n

According to a notice released by Dingri county's culture and tourism bureau on Sunday, several attractions in the region have been temporarily closed to ensure people's safety.

\n

The growing popularity of outdoor activities in recent years has made trekking in the Qomolangma region a lucrative option for many tourists.

\n

Official data shows that the Qomolangma scenic area received more than 540,000 domestic and international tourists last year, an 18 percent increase compared with the previous year.

\n

pengchao@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12193,28 +11973,6 @@ "hash": "5d9823e4bab1309c8642f02d54d420ab", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "002NATION - Breaking ground", - "description": "

Ghanaian President John Mahama attends the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bright International Amusement Park in Afienya, Tema, on Saturday. With a total investment of about $300 million, the project was built with the support of a Chinese company under the cooperation framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "content": "

Ghanaian President John Mahama attends the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bright International Amusement Park in Afienya, Tema, on Saturday. With a total investment of about $300 million, the project was built with the support of a Chinese company under the cooperation framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_002_68e41ce6ed50ccabe151ab05.htm#002NATION", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "612f6ebe06bea389ee471732eb034f74", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "002NATION - Key study by Shandong researchers unveils single plant cell development", "description": "

In a groundbreaking study, Chinese researchers have revealed how a single plant cell can develop into a whole plant, unlocking potential applications for agriculture and crop conservation.

\n

The team published its study, titled "Time-resolved Reprogramming of Single Somatic Cells into Totipotent States During Plant Regeneration", in the academic journal Cell on Tuesday. The researchers, from the College of Life Sciences of Shandong Agricultural University in Tai'an, Shandong province, were led by professors Zhang Xiansheng and Su Yinghua.

\n

Plants have long fascinated scientists with their remarkable ability to regenerate — a leaf, a stem or even a single cell can give rise to an entirely new plant. This phenomenon, known as plant cell totipotency, was first proposed in the early 20th century. It refers to the capacity of a plant cell to dedifferentiate and form totipotent stem cells similar to a fertilized egg, which can then develop into a complete plant. However, the molecular mechanisms behind this process have remained elusive for over a century.

\n

"It's common to observe plant regeneration, such as in sweet potatoes, which can grow into new plants even from a cut piece," professor Zhang said. "But how does a single somatic cell change? What is the mechanism? These were the questions we had been trying to answer."

\n

Zhang's team embarked on its journey in 2005 using thale cress, a widely studied model plant, and finally mapped the complete pathway of cell fate reprogramming using cutting-edge technologies such as single-cell sequencing and live imaging.

\n

"We can flip a 'switch' to turn it into a totipotent cell similar to a fertilized egg, which can then grow into the next generation," professor Su said. "That switch is the high accumulation of auxin in the original cell. By providing a specific environment, the cell can be triggered to become a totipotent stem cell."

\n

Over the past two decades, the team conducted hundreds of thousands of experiments.

\n

"Establishing the initial system was extremely difficult; experiments failed repeatedly," said Tang Liping, an associate professor at the university.

\n

A turning point came when she accidentally broke a glass vial, leading to the surprise discovery of embryo-like structures growing on a cotyledon.

\n

The research not only answers a long-standing question in plant biology, but also opens new pathways for agricultural innovation. The technology is currently being tested on wheat, corn, soybeans and other crops.

\n

"Precise regulation of cell totipotency could allow for rapid cloning of high-quality crop varieties, shortening breeding cycles and offering new strategies for conserving rare and valuable germplasm resources," Zhang said.

\n

Chong Kang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, praised the discovery.

\n

"These research findings provide a theoretical blueprint for optimizing crop regeneration systems, marking a milestone contribution from China in the field of plant development and biotechnology to the world," Chong said.

\n

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12237,28 +11995,6 @@ "hash": "109af5aa35f8a2882c7892ffd2b1022a", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "002NATION - Mantle of the moon 'colder' on its far side", - "description": "

Chinese scientists have recently published a new significant finding that will help to better understand the moon's history and its hemispheric dichotomy, or the dramatic difference between the lunar near and far sides.

\n

According to a joint statement released on Monday by the China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority, a group of researchers from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, a China National Nuclear Corp subsidiary, Peking University and Shandong University have found, for the first time, that the lunar mantle on the far side is "colder" than that on the near side.

\n

Researchers made the discovery after analyzing lunar dust retrieved from the far side of the moon by the Chang'e 6 robotic probe.

\n

The finding, which was published in the academic journal Nature Geoscience on Sept 30, will further deepen the understanding of the moon's hemispheric dichotomy, provide petrological, geochemical and other scientific evidence for the temperature difference between the lunar mantle on the near and far sides, and present key scientific data for research on lunar evolution and the characteristics of the hemispheric dichotomy, according to the statement.

\n

This also marks a new achievement in the cross-disciplinary collaboration between Chinese nuclear and space scientists, following their discovery of the sixth lunar mineral — Changesite-(Y) — in late 2022, the statement noted.

\n

Located beneath the lunar crust, the lunar mantle is the largest component of the moon in terms of volume, and the moon's ancient volcanic activities were formed by the upward movement of mantle materials. Therefore, the internal characteristics of the moon, such as the lunar mantle, are crucial for research on lunar evolution, the statement added.

\n

In their study, scientists used a variety of methods to conduct detailed analysis of the lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e 6 probe.

\n

By analyzing the compositions of typical minerals, including clinopyroxene and plagioclase, in the lunar regolith basalt samples, they calculated the crystallization temperature and pressure using three different thermobarometers. To ensure the scientific validity of the results, the team simulated the crystallization process of Chang'e 6 samples through a petrological model.

\n

The four independent methods yielded consistent results — the crystallization temperature of the basalt samples is about 1,100 C, approximately 100 C lower than that of samples from the near side.

\n

The researchers also reconstructed the chemical composition of the moon's original magma and calculated the potential temperatures of the lunar mantle. They found that the potential temperature of the lunar mantle on the far side is about 100 C lower than that on the near side. In addition, the research team used lunar remote-sensing data to conduct verification and analysis on a larger regional scale.

\n

"Collectively, our findings demonstrate that the lunar far side mantle is relatively colder than the near side mantle, consistent with the hemispherical differences in crustal thickness and heat-producing element distribution, and provide constraints on the thermal evolution of the moon and the origin of its global asymmetry," the scientists wrote in their Nature Geoscience article.

\n

Li Ziying, a senior scientist and one of the research leaders, said that studying the physical and chemical differences between the lunar near and far sides not only enables scientists to deepen their knowledge about the moon itself, but also offers insights into Earth's evolution.

\n

The Chang'e 6 mission, representing the world's first attempt to bring samples from the far side of the moon, was launched in May 2024 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province.

\n

The mission successfully concluded after 53 days of sophisticated maneuvers, retrieving a total of 1,935.3 grams of samples from the far side.

\n

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

Chinese scientists have recently published a new significant finding that will help to better understand the moon's history and its hemispheric dichotomy, or the dramatic difference between the lunar near and far sides.

\n

According to a joint statement released on Monday by the China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority, a group of researchers from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, a China National Nuclear Corp subsidiary, Peking University and Shandong University have found, for the first time, that the lunar mantle on the far side is "colder" than that on the near side.

\n

Researchers made the discovery after analyzing lunar dust retrieved from the far side of the moon by the Chang'e 6 robotic probe.

\n

The finding, which was published in the academic journal Nature Geoscience on Sept 30, will further deepen the understanding of the moon's hemispheric dichotomy, provide petrological, geochemical and other scientific evidence for the temperature difference between the lunar mantle on the near and far sides, and present key scientific data for research on lunar evolution and the characteristics of the hemispheric dichotomy, according to the statement.

\n

This also marks a new achievement in the cross-disciplinary collaboration between Chinese nuclear and space scientists, following their discovery of the sixth lunar mineral — Changesite-(Y) — in late 2022, the statement noted.

\n

Located beneath the lunar crust, the lunar mantle is the largest component of the moon in terms of volume, and the moon's ancient volcanic activities were formed by the upward movement of mantle materials. Therefore, the internal characteristics of the moon, such as the lunar mantle, are crucial for research on lunar evolution, the statement added.

\n

In their study, scientists used a variety of methods to conduct detailed analysis of the lunar samples brought back by the Chang'e 6 probe.

\n

By analyzing the compositions of typical minerals, including clinopyroxene and plagioclase, in the lunar regolith basalt samples, they calculated the crystallization temperature and pressure using three different thermobarometers. To ensure the scientific validity of the results, the team simulated the crystallization process of Chang'e 6 samples through a petrological model.

\n

The four independent methods yielded consistent results — the crystallization temperature of the basalt samples is about 1,100 C, approximately 100 C lower than that of samples from the near side.

\n

The researchers also reconstructed the chemical composition of the moon's original magma and calculated the potential temperatures of the lunar mantle. They found that the potential temperature of the lunar mantle on the far side is about 100 C lower than that on the near side. In addition, the research team used lunar remote-sensing data to conduct verification and analysis on a larger regional scale.

\n

"Collectively, our findings demonstrate that the lunar far side mantle is relatively colder than the near side mantle, consistent with the hemispherical differences in crustal thickness and heat-producing element distribution, and provide constraints on the thermal evolution of the moon and the origin of its global asymmetry," the scientists wrote in their Nature Geoscience article.

\n

Li Ziying, a senior scientist and one of the research leaders, said that studying the physical and chemical differences between the lunar near and far sides not only enables scientists to deepen their knowledge about the moon itself, but also offers insights into Earth's evolution.

\n

The Chang'e 6 mission, representing the world's first attempt to bring samples from the far side of the moon, was launched in May 2024 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province.

\n

The mission successfully concluded after 53 days of sophisticated maneuvers, retrieving a total of 1,935.3 grams of samples from the far side.

\n

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_002_68e41cf3ed50ccabe151ab09.htm#002NATION", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "d127a3120f3f58645abbd5b9ef11b11f", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "003COVER - Village song competition showcases cultural diversity of countryside", "description": "

Villagers cheer for following the completion of a national-level village singing competition in Wanzhou, Chongqing, on Sept 21.

\n

Dressed in ethnic clothing, singers perform during a gala after the village singing competition.

\n

The sound of drums and rustic melodies echoed across the shores of the Three Gorges Reservoir in Wanzhou, Chongqing, as the village singing competition got underway on Sept 21. Seventeen teams from six western provinces and regions had gathered to celebrate the harvest with songs during the 2025 Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival.

\n

The singing competition has become one of the signature cultural events of the annual farmers' harvest festival, encouraging villagers to compose and perform original works that capture both traditional heritage and contemporary rural vitality, according to China Rural Magazine, one of the organizers of the event.

\n

This year's event was expanded to include a main competition for collective village songs and a subsidiary contest for individuals and smaller groups. The latter brought together mountain ballads, folk tunes, operatic arias and rap performances, showcasing the cultural diversity of China's countryside. The performances were judged based on the combined views from professionals, media and the public, with extra points awarded for strong grassroots participation.

\n

The performances reflected the width of western China's cultural landscape. A chorus from Lhundrub county in Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region, staged Harvested Barley, recreating scenes of golden fields and full granaries on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

\n

In Gansu, a rural opera troupe fused traditional Qinqiang Opera with humorous depictions of modern farm life in The Good Days of Farmers, drawing laughter and applause. The performance bagged the first prize in its category.

\n

"More than 90 percent of our team members are farmers," said Qin Dengmei, head of the Gansu opera troupe in Chongxin county. "We use old voices to sing new songs about our villages, our better lives, and our hopes for the future," Qin said.

\n

Zhao Hongbin, one of the judges, said the prize-winning songs come straight from the fields, "unpolished, but full of real strength". "They celebrate not only the harvest but also cultural roots and rural confidence," Zhao said.

\n

The Village Song Competition was rolled out nationwide in August, with regional contests held both online and offline. The finals will take place later this year in Jianhe county, Guizhou province, home to vibrant ethnic traditions and grassroots cultural innovation.

\n

Lei Liugong, head of the festival organizing committee, said the Village Song Competition, similar to the Village Super League of soccer and the Village Basketball Games, has become an activity where farmers are both performers and storytellers.

\n

"By making good use of village songs, a popular art form among farmers, we can promote rural culture, cultivate rural customs, and boost farmers' morale, injecting new vitality into the rural civilization," Lei said.

\n

zhaoyimeng@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12281,28 +12017,6 @@ "hash": "a9007e978a989e91180787b85309ddf2", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "004WORLD - Pressure on Macron rises as PM resigns", - "description": "

France's new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu stepped down on Monday, just a day after unveiling his cabinet and under a month into the job.

\n

His cabinet lineup announced on Sunday had immediately drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, notably his move to return former finance chief Bruno Le Maire to head the Defense Ministry.

\n

Lecornu was French President Emmanuel Macron's 7th prime minister since 2022, and he had been tasked with forming a government able to navigate a divided parliament.

\n

His cabinet was presented 26 days after his appointment and was viewed as an effort to secure cross-party backing and address political deadlock.

\n

Lecornu blamed political parties' intransigence for his resignation in a public address on Monday morning, an hour after announcing he would step down.

\n

"I was ready to compromise, but each political party wanted the other political party to adopt its entire program," he said.

\n

"The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister," Lecornu added, denouncing the "partisan appetites" of factions which he said had forced his resignation.

\n

He said he spent weeks seeking a path forward with unions, social partners, and politicians across the spectrum, and argued that his pledge not to pass laws without a parliamentary vote marked a clear break with the past that should have won opposition support.

\n

"It would take little for it to work," Lecornu added. "By being more selfless for many, by knowing how to show humility … One must always put one's country before one's party."

\n

The far-right National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella called on Macron to dissolve the National Assembly following the resignation.

\n

"Stability cannot be restored without a return to the polls and without the dissolution of the National Assembly," he said upon arriving at his party headquarters.

\n

The Paris stock market slipped Monday on the back of the resignation news, plunging the country into further political turmoil, reported France 24.

\n

French stocks were already down earlier after Lecornu had named Roland Lescure, a close ally of Macron, as finance minister.

\n

Broad backlash

\n

The largely unchanged cabinet he unveiled prompted a broad backlash across parties.

\n

Earlier on Monday, before Lecornu's resignation was announced, conservative Bruno Retailleau — who had been reappointed as interior minister — had said the new government "does not reflect the promised break".

\n

French Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said his party would vote against the new government formed as it stood. Faure said: "At this current moment in time, I cannot see how the socialist party would not be in a position to vote against the government".

\n

"The prevailing sentiment is one of dismay … The reality is that we are witnessing an unprecedented political crisis," he told France Inter radio.

\n

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the de facto leader of the far left, said: "Elections for nothing and two motions of no confidence for nothing? This won't hold."

\n

Analysts have noted the current political crisis stems from Macron's decision to call legislative elections in summer 2024, which produced a fragmented parliament where the far-right and hard-left wield influence — compounded by France's limited culture of coalition-building and consensus.

\n

The next move rests with Macron, who must now decide how much longer these circumstances can continue. He has three options: appoint another prime minister, dissolve the National Assembly again, or resign.

\n

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com

\n

", - "content": "

France's new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu stepped down on Monday, just a day after unveiling his cabinet and under a month into the job.

\n

His cabinet lineup announced on Sunday had immediately drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, notably his move to return former finance chief Bruno Le Maire to head the Defense Ministry.

\n

Lecornu was French President Emmanuel Macron's 7th prime minister since 2022, and he had been tasked with forming a government able to navigate a divided parliament.

\n

His cabinet was presented 26 days after his appointment and was viewed as an effort to secure cross-party backing and address political deadlock.

\n

Lecornu blamed political parties' intransigence for his resignation in a public address on Monday morning, an hour after announcing he would step down.

\n

"I was ready to compromise, but each political party wanted the other political party to adopt its entire program," he said.

\n

"The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister," Lecornu added, denouncing the "partisan appetites" of factions which he said had forced his resignation.

\n

He said he spent weeks seeking a path forward with unions, social partners, and politicians across the spectrum, and argued that his pledge not to pass laws without a parliamentary vote marked a clear break with the past that should have won opposition support.

\n

"It would take little for it to work," Lecornu added. "By being more selfless for many, by knowing how to show humility … One must always put one's country before one's party."

\n

The far-right National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella called on Macron to dissolve the National Assembly following the resignation.

\n

"Stability cannot be restored without a return to the polls and without the dissolution of the National Assembly," he said upon arriving at his party headquarters.

\n

The Paris stock market slipped Monday on the back of the resignation news, plunging the country into further political turmoil, reported France 24.

\n

French stocks were already down earlier after Lecornu had named Roland Lescure, a close ally of Macron, as finance minister.

\n

Broad backlash

\n

The largely unchanged cabinet he unveiled prompted a broad backlash across parties.

\n

Earlier on Monday, before Lecornu's resignation was announced, conservative Bruno Retailleau — who had been reappointed as interior minister — had said the new government "does not reflect the promised break".

\n

French Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said his party would vote against the new government formed as it stood. Faure said: "At this current moment in time, I cannot see how the socialist party would not be in a position to vote against the government".

\n

"The prevailing sentiment is one of dismay … The reality is that we are witnessing an unprecedented political crisis," he told France Inter radio.

\n

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the de facto leader of the far left, said: "Elections for nothing and two motions of no confidence for nothing? This won't hold."

\n

Analysts have noted the current political crisis stems from Macron's decision to call legislative elections in summer 2024, which produced a fragmented parliament where the far-right and hard-left wield influence — compounded by France's limited culture of coalition-building and consensus.

\n

The next move rests with Macron, who must now decide how much longer these circumstances can continue. He has three options: appoint another prime minister, dissolve the National Assembly again, or resign.

\n

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_004_68e41cfced50ccabe151ab0d.htm#004WORLD", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "5e4182c2f6784875d3c33c907edc0d67", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "004WORLD - Briefly", "description": "

AUSTRALIA

\n

Dozens wounded in rare mass shooting

\n

A 60-year-old man was in custody in Australia on Monday after police said he shot up to 50 bullets into a busy Sydney street, wounding more than a dozen people. Police were called on Sunday evening to the city's Inner West suburb, where the alleged gunman was firing from his property at random at passing cars and police. A large contingent of police swarmed the area and locked down the street, before entering the property and arresting the man. They seized a rifle from the scene. Office worker Joe Azar said he was working across the road when he heard what he thought were fireworks or rocks being thrown at the windows.

\n

NORWAY

\n

Air traffic paused as drones sighted

\n

Norway's Oslo Airport temporarily paused one or several landings early on Monday after a report of a drone sighting near the airport, its operator Avinor said. "One or more aircraft waited in the air until the situation was clarified. No aircraft departed for alternative airports," an Avinor spokesperson said. The Norwegian news agency cited police as saying they had received a report around midnight that a Norwegian Air pilot thought he saw three to five drones during an approach to the airport. Avinor said there had been no further disruptions to air traffic. NTB news agency reported, citing police, that the observation remained unverified. European aviation has been repeatedly thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and air incursions.

\n

UNITED STATES

\n

Bid to send troops to Portland blocked

\n

A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday temporarily blocked Donald Trump's administration from sending any National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, a setback for the president as he seeks to dispatch the military to cities over the objections of their Democratic leaders. The ruling by US District Judge Karin Immergut followed the administration's decision to call in troops from California and Texas just one day after she temporarily blocked Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland. Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, said there was no evidence that recent protests necessitated the presence of National Guard troops, no matter where they came from. There was no immediate comment from the White House or from the Pentagon on the judge's order.

\n

", @@ -12325,28 +12039,6 @@ "hash": "121c5fb0f0c2d75f47198b964fd9f8cf", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "004WORLD - Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to 3 scientists", - "description": "

Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi are awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday.

\n

STOCKHOLM — Scientists Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance", the award-giving body said on Monday.

\n

This year's prize "relates to how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease," said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute.

\n

The winners for medicine are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute and receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), as well as a gold medal presented by Sweden's king.

\n

Brunkow is a senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, while Ramsdell is a scientific adviser at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, which he co-founded. Sakaguchi is a professor at Osaka University in Japan.

\n

Sakaguchi told reporters outside his university laboratory that "I feel it is a tremendous honor", Kyodo news agency reported.

\n

"Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases," the prize-awarding body said in a statement. The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and a wealthy businessman. They have been awarded since 1901 for outstanding contributions in science, literature, and peace, with interruptions mainly during the World Wars.

\n

The economics prize was added later and is funded by Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank.

\n

Winners are selected by expert committees from various institutions. All prizes are awarded in Stockholm, except for the Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo.

\n

Past recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine include renowned scientists such as Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 award for discovering penicillin. In recent years, the prize has recognized major breakthroughs, including those that enabled the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

\n

Last year's medicine prize was awarded to US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA and its key role in how multicellular organisms grow and live, helping explain how cells specialize into different types.

\n

Medicine, in accordance with tradition, kicks off the annual Nobel Prizes, arguably the most prestigious awards in science, literature, peace and economics, with the remainder set to be announced over the coming days.

\n

", - "content": "

Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi are awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday.

\n

STOCKHOLM — Scientists Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance", the award-giving body said on Monday.

\n

This year's prize "relates to how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease," said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute.

\n

The winners for medicine are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute and receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), as well as a gold medal presented by Sweden's king.

\n

Brunkow is a senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, while Ramsdell is a scientific adviser at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, which he co-founded. Sakaguchi is a professor at Osaka University in Japan.

\n

Sakaguchi told reporters outside his university laboratory that "I feel it is a tremendous honor", Kyodo news agency reported.

\n

"Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases," the prize-awarding body said in a statement. The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and a wealthy businessman. They have been awarded since 1901 for outstanding contributions in science, literature, and peace, with interruptions mainly during the World Wars.

\n

The economics prize was added later and is funded by Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank.

\n

Winners are selected by expert committees from various institutions. All prizes are awarded in Stockholm, except for the Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo.

\n

Past recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine include renowned scientists such as Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 award for discovering penicillin. In recent years, the prize has recognized major breakthroughs, including those that enabled the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

\n

Last year's medicine prize was awarded to US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA and its key role in how multicellular organisms grow and live, helping explain how cells specialize into different types.

\n

Medicine, in accordance with tradition, kicks off the annual Nobel Prizes, arguably the most prestigious awards in science, literature, peace and economics, with the remainder set to be announced over the coming days.

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_004_68e41d0ded50ccabe151ab11.htm#004WORLD", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "029bfc851b0cae33e25c6013a0b4b388", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "005PEOPLE - Preserving the heritage of Mongolian benedictions", "description": "

Ushanxi (middle), a national-level inheritor of Mongolian benediction, gives a performance of the folklore art in Subei Mongolian autonomous county in Gansu province.

\n

"Back in the day, I practiced wedding benedictions every single afternoon — driven by pure passion, I never felt weary," reflects Ushanxi, his eyes lighting up as he recalls his decades of dedication.

\n

At 67, this soft-spoken yet revered figure stands as the most indispensable cultural guardian in the Subei Mongolian autonomous county of Gansu province. His chants have inaugurated countless weddings and festivals. As the sole national-level inheritor of zhuzanci, or Mongolian benediction, Ushanxi has not only preserved but also revitalized a tradition that spans over 40 years of his life.

\n

Mongolian benediction is far more than a ritual; it is a profound expression of goodwill, weaving together aspirations for health, prosperity and happiness through melodic recitations. These performances, which blend chanting with storytelling, serve as a cultural bridge between music and literature, often gracing pivotal moments, such as weddings, seasonal festivals and ceremonial gatherings.

\n

Ushanxi describes it as "a living archive of our ancestors' wisdom", noting that each benediction carries echoes of centuries-old oral traditions.

\n

His journey into this art began in the 1980s, shortly after graduating from Inner Mongolia Normal University. Fascinated by his heritage, Ushanxi apprenticed under his father and uncle, documenting the oral traditions passed down through generations. At the time, he taught at a remote primary school, where lunch breaks often turned into impromptu invitations to perform at weddings.

\n

"Those years were a whirlwind of practices and performances. Now that I'm aging, I pace myself — limiting it to a few weekly sessions, but the fire still burns bright," he says.

\n

In late September, he officiated a Sino-Mongolian wedding, where the bride was from Subei and the groom from Mongolia. "Benediction is essential to every traditional Mongolian wedding," he explains.

\n

Due to high demand, his two sons, along with some relatives and friends, have also learned wedding benedictions from him.

\n

"Even in marriages between ethnic Mongolians and people of Han ethnicity, the first day of the celebration strictly follows ethnic Mongolian customs, with benediction remaining a cornerstone," he adds.

\n

While wedding recitations focus on conjugal blessings, festival benedictions, such as those for oboo worship, fire rituals, or the Naadam Fair, hold grander significance, serving to express respect for nature and the universe, as well as to convey good wishes for the future. The content of these benedictions also encompasses history, ancestors and heroic figures.

\n

For these occasions, Ushanxi dons elaborate traditional robes adorned with silver and gold jewelry, delivering his distinctive chants against the backdrop of grasslands or deserts.

\n

To hone his craft, Ushanxi has self-funded trips to nationwide competitions and exchanges. In July, he participated in an international benediction contest in Mongolia, engaging with inheritors from 10 countries. "There are nuances in tone and content between our styles and those of Mongolians. I value such exchanges," he notes.

\n

Beyond personal growth, Ushanxi is committed to passing on the tradition. He teaches students of all ages — from teenagers to those in their fifties — free of charge. Lessons often take place in school cafeterias or students' homes for convenience.

\n

"My sincere hope is that they master this intangible cultural heritage, ensuring our ethnic Mongolian traditions endure for generations," he says.

\n

To date, he has nurtured over 40 inheritors, safeguarding a legacy that resonates across borders.

\n

Last September, Tsogtsaikhan Mandakh, counselor at the Mongolian Embassy in China, visited the Subei Intangible Cultural Heritage Center. After watching Ushanxi's benediction performance, he was full of admiration and said: "It's remarkable that the ethnic Mongolians here, with only a few thousand people, have preserved their traditional culture so well!"

\n

Located in the northwestern region of Gansu province, Subei county covers a vast area characterized by diverse landscapes, including mountains, deserts and grasslands, with a total area exceeding 66,748 square kilometers. The population is less than 20,000, with the majority being ethnic Mongolians.

\n

", @@ -12369,28 +12061,6 @@ "hash": "c53919752a6ef6ee10a1f33bf82dbf74", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "007IMAGE - New type of matsutake hunters and traders", - "description": "

A live-streamer selling matsutake calls out to the Shangri-La matsutake market, Yunnan province, on July 24.

\n

Chunpi (middle) demonstrates how to harvest matsutake to tourists in Jidi village, Shangri-La city, on July 25.

\n

Villagers pack matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

A matsutake photographed in Jidi village, on July 25.

\n

A Jidi villager picks matsutake in the early morning of July 25.

\n

Staff pack matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

Tourists taste freshly picked matsutake in Jidi village, on July 25.

\n

Chunpi (second from left) and staff sort through matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

Chunpi (middle) and fellow villagers load freshly collected matsutake on a vehicle outside the Jidi village matsutake trading market, on July 25.

\n

A view of Jidi village, Shangri-La city, photographed on July 24.

\n

At a little past 3 am when lights are gradually switched on in Tibetan homes in Jidi village, Shangri-La city, Yunnan province, some villagers pick up their baskets and sticks, as well as flashlights, pile them up on their motorcycles, and ride up the mountains about 3,000 meters above the sea level to pick matsutake, a highly prized mushroom.

\n

With the spread of mobile devices such as smartphones, more and more Tibetan villagers are using short videos and livestreaming to share online their matsutake-picking process, becoming new "matsutake hunters."

\n

Born in 1990 in Jidi village, Chunpi, one of the "matsutake hunters", began foraging for matsutake in the mountains with his elders from the age of five.

\n

After graduating from college in 2017, Chunpi chose to return to Shangri-La, and became one of the first youths in his village to promote the sales of matsutake through e-commerce.

\n

In recent years, Chunpi has focused on improving the quality of the mushrooms while also building his own brand.

\n

In 2024, because of his efforts, Jidi Village established a village-level matsutake market that integrates offline transactions, livestreaming e-commerce and cold storage.

\n

", - "content": "

A live-streamer selling matsutake calls out to the Shangri-La matsutake market, Yunnan province, on July 24.

\n

Chunpi (middle) demonstrates how to harvest matsutake to tourists in Jidi village, Shangri-La city, on July 25.

\n

Villagers pack matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

A matsutake photographed in Jidi village, on July 25.

\n

A Jidi villager picks matsutake in the early morning of July 25.

\n

Staff pack matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

Tourists taste freshly picked matsutake in Jidi village, on July 25.

\n

Chunpi (second from left) and staff sort through matsutake from Jidi village at a stall in the Shangri-La matsutake market, on July 24.

\n

Chunpi (middle) and fellow villagers load freshly collected matsutake on a vehicle outside the Jidi village matsutake trading market, on July 25.

\n

A view of Jidi village, Shangri-La city, photographed on July 24.

\n

At a little past 3 am when lights are gradually switched on in Tibetan homes in Jidi village, Shangri-La city, Yunnan province, some villagers pick up their baskets and sticks, as well as flashlights, pile them up on their motorcycles, and ride up the mountains about 3,000 meters above the sea level to pick matsutake, a highly prized mushroom.

\n

With the spread of mobile devices such as smartphones, more and more Tibetan villagers are using short videos and livestreaming to share online their matsutake-picking process, becoming new "matsutake hunters."

\n

Born in 1990 in Jidi village, Chunpi, one of the "matsutake hunters", began foraging for matsutake in the mountains with his elders from the age of five.

\n

After graduating from college in 2017, Chunpi chose to return to Shangri-La, and became one of the first youths in his village to promote the sales of matsutake through e-commerce.

\n

In recent years, Chunpi has focused on improving the quality of the mushrooms while also building his own brand.

\n

In 2024, because of his efforts, Jidi Village established a village-level matsutake market that integrates offline transactions, livestreaming e-commerce and cold storage.

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_007_68e41d1eed50ccabe151ab15.htm#007IMAGE", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "1f5fc9b72b459ef48dc976a8c6aa918d", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "010TRAVEL - Underground hoops spark rural vitalization", "description": "

The Qinglong Cave in Heishui township, Yanhe Tujia autonomous county of Guizhou province.

\n

Yangnan village hosts a cave basketball game in August.

\n

A cave restaurant bustles with customers.

\n

When you approach a karst cave in Southwest China's Guizhou, you might not notice the stalactites in the dark over the glare of floodlights and the roar of cheering.

\n

Inside Fengming Cave in Yanhe Tujia autonomous county, a full-size basketball court sits under a vaulted ceiling, surrounded by packed stands and streamers. A late-August basketball tournament drew teams from Chongqing and the provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou, attracting more than 40,000 people to Yanhe's Cuantang village. The influx prompted local officials and villagers to begin planning tourism and other projects around the county's cave network.

\n

Guizhou sits atop extensive karst terrain. Heavy rainfall and a humid climate in Yanhe have helped form and preserve numerous caves. Local authorities said the county has recorded more than 1,000, some of which now figure in visitor service plans.

\n

Fengming Cave, on the banks of the Wujiang River, is ringed by mountains and naturally cool in summer. Villagers said the interior temperature stays around 10 to 20 C even when outside temperatures approach 40.

\n

Before descending into the cave's inner area, visitors pass through a 64-by-36-meter arena. It includes a standard court and terraced seating for more than 2,000 people. Behind that is a scenic section with stalactites and flowstone formations. The complex also hosts a bar and lounge, a central viewing hall, and an exploration hall.

\n

According to legend, the cave's passages form a Y shape, and the trickle of water sometimes sounds like a phoenix's call, a tale that gave Fengming its name, meaning "sound of the phoenix".

\n

Playing basketball in a cave has brought unprecedented foot traffic, turning the cave into a lucrative attraction.

\n

"Before, our village relied mainly on rice and corn farming and a small peach and pear industry," said Wang Chunnian, Cuantang's Party secretary. "We had five caves, and people mainly used them to cool off. Now, events bring steady visitors and new business."

\n

Wang said villagers who sell snacks and drinks can earn 1,000 to 2,000 yuan ($140-$280) daily on busy days.

\n

The idea originated in Yangnan, another village in Yanhe county. In early 2024, residents converted a large cave into an arena holding more than 4,000 people. Organizers said the project boosted local incomes and put Yanhe on the social media map. Since August 2024, the county has hosted roughly 200 basketball events involving more than 1,000 teams.

\n

The Yangnan example encouraged nearby villages. Cuantang's large cave spaces and its location 17 kilometers from the county seat give it an edge in attracting visitors.

\n

"The venues inside the caves are sheltered from the weather and are quiet and suitable for community activities," Wang said. "People can exercise, cool off, and meet others. Villagers raised money to build this site."

\n

Officials said community initiatives, together with county-led environmental and geological assessments, have spurred a wave of cave development. Sites are being positioned as tourist draws and as spaces for sports and events.

\n

"Cave basketball is not a single event," said Wang Tao, Yanhe's deputy county head. "It is an experiment in combining sports with cultural tourism. We are exploring all possibilities."

\n

Yanhe is a remote county with limited industry, according to Wang Tao. For years, the local government has sought ways to boost jobs and incomes.

\n

New businesses are following the visitors. Some villagers have opened cave restaurants and bars. Others are aging sorghum liquor in caves.

\n

In Shihua village, Zhang Liao stores his home-brewed baijiu underground. Local media reported that cave-aged liquor can sell for more than double the price of comparable brands.

\n

Yanhe officials said they intend to focus on caves within a 20-minute drive of the county seat that have good transport access. Those sites will undergo safety inspections and environmental reviews before development proceeds.

\n

After the cave events went viral, several companies and sports platforms approached local authorities. The deputy county head said any market-driven projects will move forward only after assessments.

\n

"Cave basketball gave us a good start, but much work remains to create distinct, sustainable offerings that keep visitors coming back," he said.

\n

Planners are also considering a regional basketball alliance to link cities across the Wuling Mountain area, where several provinces meet. Officials said a coordinated approach could help the region develop together and support small communities that lack industry.

\n

"It's important that we use our cave resources to follow a development path that fits us, rather than copying tourism trends," Wang Tao said.

\n

Contact the writers at liuboqian@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12413,28 +12083,6 @@ "hash": "9e6e573f6ca0438deff6b7897ed5c514", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "011SPORTS - SKIER'S DEATH PROMPTS SAFETY DEBATE", - "description": "

A tribute to Italian skier Matteo Franzoso is shown on a screen inside the San Siro stadium in Milan before a Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Sassuolo on Sept 21.

\n

Lindsey Vonn of the United States crashes at Whistler during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

\n

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin falls during Beijing 2022.

\n

Tragic Italian skier Matteo Franzoso contests a men's World Cup super-G race in December 2022.

\n

It's usually not until December or January, and after a series of tumbles, twisted knees, torn ACLs and worse, that the debate over safety in World Cup skiing becomes an annual topic.

\n

Not this season.

\n

The death of Italian skier Matteo Franzoso last month, following a crash during preseason training in Chile, has seen concerns over how to limit risks in the high-speed sport resurface less than a month before the actual racing even starts.

\n

The debate also comes less than five months before Milano-Cortina 2026.

\n

Franzoso, who was 25, became the third rising Italian skier to die in less than a year.

\n

Matilde Lorenzi, who was 19, died from her injuries after a crash in October 2024. Then, in March, Marco Degli Uomini, who was 18, died while testing a course for a regional children's race. A month later, Margot Simond, a promising 18-year-old French skier, also died in a training crash.

\n

In 2017, French downhill skier David Poisson, a former medalist at the world championships, died following a training crash in Canada. He was 35.

\n

"How many tragic losses will we have to experience before we finally open the debate on safety, especially during training?" Veteran French downhill skier Adrien Theaux wrote on Instagram.

\n

Added Lucrezia Lorenzi, Matilde's older sister and a competitive skier herself: "The time has come to stop. … You can't go out to ski and then not return home."

\n

Same course used by Vonn

\n

Franzoso crashed through two layers of safety fencing on a course at La Parva, and slammed into another type of fence positioned six to seven meters away from the course, the Italian Winter Sports Federation said. He was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Santiago but didn't survive the cranial trauma and a consequent swelling of his brain. He died two days later — a day before what would have been his 26th birthday.

\n

The La Parva course has been widely used by World Cup skiers for years. Lindsey Vonn and the US Ski Team were training there a week before Franzoso's crash, and several other national teams have been there this month.

\n

Shaken teammate flies home

\n

Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer had completed a run just before Franzoso's crash. After hearing about the incident, Innerhofer saw the crash site with his own eyes when he went back up the mountain on a chairlift and looked down at his fallen teammate.

\n

"Matte, when I saw where you fell, where they were applying emergency aid, with you on the other side of the fence, I lost my mind, because I feared for the severity of the situation," Innerhofer wrote on Instagram.

\n

The 40-year-old Innerhofer was so shaken that he abandoned the training camp and flew home to Italy.

\n

"These are the toughest days I've ever experienced as an athlete," he said.

\n

Dedicated training courses

\n

Franzoso's death has sparked debate over whether the Switzerland-based International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) should take on a greater role in ensuring safety for preseason training courses in the southern hemisphere.

\n

Ushuaia in Argentina and Coronet Peak in New Zealand are also popular destinations for World Cup skiers in August and September.

\n

The Italian federation has called for the FIS to establish dedicated training courses for national teams.

\n

"The proposal could include two in the southern hemisphere for summer training, and a few in Europe and North America for fall and winter training," the Italian federation, known as FISI, said.

\n

FISI added that each course should have A, B and C safety netting, just like those used for World Cup races.

\n

"In the coming weeks, FIS will further intensify dialogue with its stakeholders, always with a single guiding principle: the wellbeing and safety of athletes must come first," the FIS said in a statement.

\n

Air bags, cut-resistant underwear

\n

Starting this season, all World Cup skiers will be required to wear protective air-bag systems under their racing suits for downhill and super-G races; and cut-resistant underwear for all events.

\n

The air bags, which inflate briefly when activated by a sophisticated algorithm that can sense when a skier loses control, have been around as an optional safety device for years.

\n

The cut-resistant underwear protects against laceration injuries from ultra-sharp ski edges. For example, the underwear may have helped prevent the severe cut and nerve damage to the right calf of Norwegian standout Aleksander Aamodt Kilde during a horrific crash in January 2024. Kilde has been out ever since that fall, but hopes to return this season.

\n

"Moments like this bring into sharp focus the profound risks that are an inseparable part of our sport," the FIS said.

\n

"It is not possible to eliminate the inherent dangers of alpine skiing, but — by listening, by raising awareness and by fostering dialogue that leads to collective action — we can mitigate the risks."

\n

Olympic runs' crash history

\n

Franzoso was from the coastal city of Genoa, but had moved to the mountains near Sestriere — where skiing was contested at the 2006 Turin Olympics — to pursue his skiing career. His funeral was held there on Sept 23.

\n

For the Milano-Cortina Games in February, men's skiing will be held in Bormio and women's skiing will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

\n

Both the Stelvio course in Bormio and the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina have been the site of numerous high-profile crashes in recent years. Mikaela Shiffrin hit the Cortina nets at high speed in 2024, and French standout Cyprien Sarrazin needed surgery to drain a brain bleed after an accident on the Stelvio last season saw him catapulted into the air and land hard on his head.

\n

This season's World Cup circuit opens on the Rettenbach glacier in Solden, Austria, at the end of this month.

\n

", - "content": "

A tribute to Italian skier Matteo Franzoso is shown on a screen inside the San Siro stadium in Milan before a Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Sassuolo on Sept 21.

\n

Lindsey Vonn of the United States crashes at Whistler during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

\n

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin falls during Beijing 2022.

\n

Tragic Italian skier Matteo Franzoso contests a men's World Cup super-G race in December 2022.

\n

It's usually not until December or January, and after a series of tumbles, twisted knees, torn ACLs and worse, that the debate over safety in World Cup skiing becomes an annual topic.

\n

Not this season.

\n

The death of Italian skier Matteo Franzoso last month, following a crash during preseason training in Chile, has seen concerns over how to limit risks in the high-speed sport resurface less than a month before the actual racing even starts.

\n

The debate also comes less than five months before Milano-Cortina 2026.

\n

Franzoso, who was 25, became the third rising Italian skier to die in less than a year.

\n

Matilde Lorenzi, who was 19, died from her injuries after a crash in October 2024. Then, in March, Marco Degli Uomini, who was 18, died while testing a course for a regional children's race. A month later, Margot Simond, a promising 18-year-old French skier, also died in a training crash.

\n

In 2017, French downhill skier David Poisson, a former medalist at the world championships, died following a training crash in Canada. He was 35.

\n

"How many tragic losses will we have to experience before we finally open the debate on safety, especially during training?" Veteran French downhill skier Adrien Theaux wrote on Instagram.

\n

Added Lucrezia Lorenzi, Matilde's older sister and a competitive skier herself: "The time has come to stop. … You can't go out to ski and then not return home."

\n

Same course used by Vonn

\n

Franzoso crashed through two layers of safety fencing on a course at La Parva, and slammed into another type of fence positioned six to seven meters away from the course, the Italian Winter Sports Federation said. He was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Santiago but didn't survive the cranial trauma and a consequent swelling of his brain. He died two days later — a day before what would have been his 26th birthday.

\n

The La Parva course has been widely used by World Cup skiers for years. Lindsey Vonn and the US Ski Team were training there a week before Franzoso's crash, and several other national teams have been there this month.

\n

Shaken teammate flies home

\n

Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer had completed a run just before Franzoso's crash. After hearing about the incident, Innerhofer saw the crash site with his own eyes when he went back up the mountain on a chairlift and looked down at his fallen teammate.

\n

"Matte, when I saw where you fell, where they were applying emergency aid, with you on the other side of the fence, I lost my mind, because I feared for the severity of the situation," Innerhofer wrote on Instagram.

\n

The 40-year-old Innerhofer was so shaken that he abandoned the training camp and flew home to Italy.

\n

"These are the toughest days I've ever experienced as an athlete," he said.

\n

Dedicated training courses

\n

Franzoso's death has sparked debate over whether the Switzerland-based International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) should take on a greater role in ensuring safety for preseason training courses in the southern hemisphere.

\n

Ushuaia in Argentina and Coronet Peak in New Zealand are also popular destinations for World Cup skiers in August and September.

\n

The Italian federation has called for the FIS to establish dedicated training courses for national teams.

\n

"The proposal could include two in the southern hemisphere for summer training, and a few in Europe and North America for fall and winter training," the Italian federation, known as FISI, said.

\n

FISI added that each course should have A, B and C safety netting, just like those used for World Cup races.

\n

"In the coming weeks, FIS will further intensify dialogue with its stakeholders, always with a single guiding principle: the wellbeing and safety of athletes must come first," the FIS said in a statement.

\n

Air bags, cut-resistant underwear

\n

Starting this season, all World Cup skiers will be required to wear protective air-bag systems under their racing suits for downhill and super-G races; and cut-resistant underwear for all events.

\n

The air bags, which inflate briefly when activated by a sophisticated algorithm that can sense when a skier loses control, have been around as an optional safety device for years.

\n

The cut-resistant underwear protects against laceration injuries from ultra-sharp ski edges. For example, the underwear may have helped prevent the severe cut and nerve damage to the right calf of Norwegian standout Aleksander Aamodt Kilde during a horrific crash in January 2024. Kilde has been out ever since that fall, but hopes to return this season.

\n

"Moments like this bring into sharp focus the profound risks that are an inseparable part of our sport," the FIS said.

\n

"It is not possible to eliminate the inherent dangers of alpine skiing, but — by listening, by raising awareness and by fostering dialogue that leads to collective action — we can mitigate the risks."

\n

Olympic runs' crash history

\n

Franzoso was from the coastal city of Genoa, but had moved to the mountains near Sestriere — where skiing was contested at the 2006 Turin Olympics — to pursue his skiing career. His funeral was held there on Sept 23.

\n

For the Milano-Cortina Games in February, men's skiing will be held in Bormio and women's skiing will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

\n

Both the Stelvio course in Bormio and the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina have been the site of numerous high-profile crashes in recent years. Mikaela Shiffrin hit the Cortina nets at high speed in 2024, and French standout Cyprien Sarrazin needed surgery to drain a brain bleed after an accident on the Stelvio last season saw him catapulted into the air and land hard on his head.

\n

This season's World Cup circuit opens on the Rettenbach glacier in Solden, Austria, at the end of this month.

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/07/content_011_68e41d38ed50ccabe151ab1b.htm#011SPORTS", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "f551e2b3e6e971685c7651bbc04fcf34", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "001FRONT - Beijing, Dhaka to accelerate cooperation", "description": "

President Xi Jinping and Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin exchanged congratulatory messages on Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

\n

In his message, Xi noted that China and Bangladesh are traditional friendly neighbors with a long history of exchanges.

\n

Over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, regardless of changes in international and regional landscapes, China and Bangladesh have always fostered friendly relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, setting an example of mutual respect, equality and win-win cooperation, he said.

\n

In recent years, China and Bangladesh have continued to consolidate political mutual trust, expand high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as well as practical cooperation in various fields, and further deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he said.

\n

Xi emphasized that he attaches great importance to China's relations with Bangladesh and stands ready to work with Shahabuddin to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to carry forward the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and promote common development, in order to better benefit the two peoples and make greater contributions to world peace and progress.

\n

For his part, Shahabuddin said that over the past 50 years, Bangladesh and China have forged a deep friendship based on mutual respect and trust, as well as enduring cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.

\n

He noted that Bangladesh highly appreciates China's important role in promoting regional peace, stability and common prosperity, and expressed gratitude for China's long-term valuable support for Bangladesh's sustainable development.

\n

He expressed the belief that with the joint efforts of the leaders and peoples of the two countries, bilateral cooperation will yield even greater results.

\n

Also on Saturday, Premier Li Qiang and Chief Adviser of Bangladesh's interim government Muhammad Yunus exchanged congratulatory messages.

\n

Li said that China highly values the development of China-Bangladesh relations, and stands ready to work with Bangladesh to take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity to accelerate high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, as well as collaboration across various fields, and promote the continued growth of the China-Bangladesh comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

\n

Yunus said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 50 years ago, the friendship between the two peoples has grown stronger, bilateral ties have developed steadily and cooperation has yielded fruitful results, which is worth celebrating.

\n

Bangladesh is committed to promoting new achievements in the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, he added.

\n

", @@ -12457,28 +12105,6 @@ "hash": "04dcac2a6c7eb605d4199b1bff2b5f37", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "001FRONT - Cultural, sports events boost holiday spending", - "description": "

China's Wang Chuqin celebrates after defeating Felix Lebrun of France 4-0 to claim the men's singles title at the World Table Tennis China Smash in Beijing on Sunday.

\n

Shopping malls, restaurants and sports venues in Beijing have remained packed with visitors during the ongoing National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, representing a microcosm of the strong consumer demand nationwide.

\n

The Chinese capital's reputation as a major sports hub is playing a pivotal role in stimulating consumption in the city.

\n

Since its Sept 25 opening, the World Table Tennis China Smash, which concluded on Sunday, sold more than 85,000 tickets, generating 87 million yuan ($12 million) in revenue, up 52.6 percent year-on-year.

\n

During the first three days of the holiday, cultural and sports-related consumption in Beijing's Shijingshan district reached nearly 200 million yuan. Shougang Park, which is located in the district and is home to the WTT events, drew 130,000 visitors on average daily, nearly double compared with last year, while sales of event-related cultural products surged 127 percent to 2.7 million yuan.

\n

Meanwhile, the 2025 China Open tennis tournament hit new records between Sept 22 and Sunday. The number of visitors to the tournament's National Tennis Center venue in Chaoyang district totaled 360,000, up 20 percent year-on-year. It included 180,000 visitors from outside Beijing and nearly 10,000 from outside China.

\n

The revenue from China Open ticket sales hit 88 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, while broader consumption — from food and beverage to merchandise — exceeded 36 million yuan, up 44 percent.

\n

Licensed product sales topped 12.5 million yuan, with more than 80,000 yuan worth of a co-branded toy series — Wakuku — selling within the first hour of launch.

\n

Christina Wang, a Beijing resident, said she paid 1,160 yuan for two night-session tickets at the Diamond Court for China Open. "This is my third year in a row watching the tournament in Beijing," she added.

\n

Zhang Qing, founder of Beijing-based sports marketing consultancy Key-Solution, said, "China is accelerating efforts to foster domestic demand and a consumption-driven economy, and the sports industry is becoming an increasingly important part of that picture."

\n

Both the WTT China Smash and the China Open delivered double-digit growth compared with last year, with ticket sales remaining especially strong, he said.

\n

"When spectators come to watch these events, they also spend on hotels, dining, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment," Zhang said.

\n

"The timing during the National Day holiday, or Golden Week, gave people more reasons to travel. In this sense, spectator sports add real weight to building tourism destinations — they make the idea of 'traveling with events' a reality," he said, adding that sports will continue to play a greater role in China's consumption growth.

\n

According to the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, from Wednesday to Saturday, sales revenue at enterprises in key monitored sectors, including department stores, supermarkets, speciality stores, catering and e-commerce, rose 0.4 percent year-on-year.

\n

Meanwhile, more than 500 consumption promotion activities have been launched in the city, integrating culture, tourism, commerce and sports. Beijing Daily reported that foot traffic across 60 major business areas increased 14.3 percent from Wednesday to Saturday compared with the same period last year.

\n

The catering sector has emerged as a bright spot, with sales at time-honored restaurants and fast-food chains increasing 4.8 percent year-on-year. The Beijing Cuisine Association partnered with delivery platform Meituan to launch check-in activities around traditional Beijing food culture.

\n

The holiday period is also seeing a sharp rise in cultural spending. The city is hosting 364 commercial performances with 2,102 shows, attracting strong demand. As of Saturday noon, box-office receipts reached 30 million yuan, according to movie data tracker Beacon.

\n

Beijing's tourism spending has highlighted broader travel dynamics across the country.

\n

Data from Tongcheng Travel and Baidu Maps showed that self-driving trips surged on Wednesday, with congestion levels climbing on highways in several provinces.

\n

In addition to Beijing, other popular tourist destinations during the first three days of the holiday included Shanghai, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, and Xi'an in Shaanxi province.

\n

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

China's Wang Chuqin celebrates after defeating Felix Lebrun of France 4-0 to claim the men's singles title at the World Table Tennis China Smash in Beijing on Sunday.

\n

Shopping malls, restaurants and sports venues in Beijing have remained packed with visitors during the ongoing National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, representing a microcosm of the strong consumer demand nationwide.

\n

The Chinese capital's reputation as a major sports hub is playing a pivotal role in stimulating consumption in the city.

\n

Since its Sept 25 opening, the World Table Tennis China Smash, which concluded on Sunday, sold more than 85,000 tickets, generating 87 million yuan ($12 million) in revenue, up 52.6 percent year-on-year.

\n

During the first three days of the holiday, cultural and sports-related consumption in Beijing's Shijingshan district reached nearly 200 million yuan. Shougang Park, which is located in the district and is home to the WTT events, drew 130,000 visitors on average daily, nearly double compared with last year, while sales of event-related cultural products surged 127 percent to 2.7 million yuan.

\n

Meanwhile, the 2025 China Open tennis tournament hit new records between Sept 22 and Sunday. The number of visitors to the tournament's National Tennis Center venue in Chaoyang district totaled 360,000, up 20 percent year-on-year. It included 180,000 visitors from outside Beijing and nearly 10,000 from outside China.

\n

The revenue from China Open ticket sales hit 88 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, while broader consumption — from food and beverage to merchandise — exceeded 36 million yuan, up 44 percent.

\n

Licensed product sales topped 12.5 million yuan, with more than 80,000 yuan worth of a co-branded toy series — Wakuku — selling within the first hour of launch.

\n

Christina Wang, a Beijing resident, said she paid 1,160 yuan for two night-session tickets at the Diamond Court for China Open. "This is my third year in a row watching the tournament in Beijing," she added.

\n

Zhang Qing, founder of Beijing-based sports marketing consultancy Key-Solution, said, "China is accelerating efforts to foster domestic demand and a consumption-driven economy, and the sports industry is becoming an increasingly important part of that picture."

\n

Both the WTT China Smash and the China Open delivered double-digit growth compared with last year, with ticket sales remaining especially strong, he said.

\n

"When spectators come to watch these events, they also spend on hotels, dining, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment," Zhang said.

\n

"The timing during the National Day holiday, or Golden Week, gave people more reasons to travel. In this sense, spectator sports add real weight to building tourism destinations — they make the idea of 'traveling with events' a reality," he said, adding that sports will continue to play a greater role in China's consumption growth.

\n

According to the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, from Wednesday to Saturday, sales revenue at enterprises in key monitored sectors, including department stores, supermarkets, speciality stores, catering and e-commerce, rose 0.4 percent year-on-year.

\n

Meanwhile, more than 500 consumption promotion activities have been launched in the city, integrating culture, tourism, commerce and sports. Beijing Daily reported that foot traffic across 60 major business areas increased 14.3 percent from Wednesday to Saturday compared with the same period last year.

\n

The catering sector has emerged as a bright spot, with sales at time-honored restaurants and fast-food chains increasing 4.8 percent year-on-year. The Beijing Cuisine Association partnered with delivery platform Meituan to launch check-in activities around traditional Beijing food culture.

\n

The holiday period is also seeing a sharp rise in cultural spending. The city is hosting 364 commercial performances with 2,102 shows, attracting strong demand. As of Saturday noon, box-office receipts reached 30 million yuan, according to movie data tracker Beacon.

\n

Beijing's tourism spending has highlighted broader travel dynamics across the country.

\n

Data from Tongcheng Travel and Baidu Maps showed that self-driving trips surged on Wednesday, with congestion levels climbing on highways in several provinces.

\n

In addition to Beijing, other popular tourist destinations during the first three days of the holiday included Shanghai, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, and Xi'an in Shaanxi province.

\n

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/06/content_001_68e2c6a9ed50ccabe151aa67.htm#001FRONT", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "4def21bbbf8afec97e4b74360fc9fa3b", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "001FRONT - Japan braces for shift to conservatism", "description": "

Sanae Takaichi

\n

The election of Sanae Takaichi as the first female president of Japan's long-governing Liberal Democratic Party and the possibility of her becoming the country's first female prime minister indicate a shift toward greater conservatism in Japan's sociopolitical atmosphere, according to experts.

\n

Takaichi, 64, a former economic security minister and an ultra-conservative lawmaker, defeated Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, agriculture minister and son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, in an LDP vote runoff on Saturday.

\n

Responding to foreign media queries regarding the LDP final vote outcome, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, "We have noted the election result, which is Japan's internal affairs."

\n

The spokesperson added, "We hope the Japanese side will abide by the principles and consensus set out in the four political documents between China and Japan, honor its political commitments on major issues such as history and the Taiwan question, follow a positive and rational policy toward China, and put into practice the positioning of comprehensively advancing the strategic relationship of mutual benefit."

\n

On Saturday, none of the three other candidates in the fray — Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, its former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi and former LDP secretary-general Toshimitsu Motegi — achieved majority in the first-round vote.

\n

In the runoff, Takaichi won 185 votes, against Koizumi's 156, drawing on a broad base of support among local party members and affiliates. With her replacing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as the LDP leader, the conservative party hopes to regain public support and stay in power despite major election debacles in the National Diet, Japan's parliament.

\n

Hiroshi Shiratori, a professor of political science at Hosei University in Tokyo, noted that Takaichi led by a wide margin in party member and supporter votes in the first round, which represent voices of the party grassroots and are considered to reflect public support.

\n

During her election campaign, Takaichi promised a tougher stance on foreigners in Japan. In fact, all LDP candidates raised the matter of "foreign policy" to reclaim conservative votes lost over the issue.

\n

Shiratori explained that these votes originally came from LDP supporters, but shifted to parties such as the far-right Sanseito and the center-right Democratic Party for the People in the upper house election due to their active advocacy on the matter. That gave the LDP race a distinct "social media leadership election" character, he said.

\n

Ukeru Magosaki, director of the East Asian Community Institute and a former senior official at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that many Western countries are facing economic stagnation and widening inequity, making life difficult for many of their citizens, who blame foreigners for their hardships.

\n

Japan is experiencing a "similar trend", as economic hardships and xenophobia are becoming increasingly intertwined with politics, he added.

\n

The LDP leadership race took place amid growing political woes after the coalition with the Komeito Party lost its majority in both houses of parliament — the first such situation since the LDP was founded in 1955.

\n

Addressing her first news conference as LDP leader just hours after the runoff result was announced, Takaichi said, "The LDP marks a new era." She pledged that the party, which has held power almost continuously for 70 years, will transform the public's "anxieties into hope".

\n

Takaichi's leadership is scheduled to last two years, until September 2027, completing the remainder of Ishiba's original three-year term.

\n

She is likely to be chosen as Japan's next prime minister at an extraordinary parliamentary session, to be held around Oct 15, with the minority coalition remaining the largest group in parliament and opposition parties still divided.

\n

Shiratori, from Hosei University, said that Takaichi's "first challenge" is the prime ministerial nomination election. If elected, the next challenge will be to build constructive diplomatic ties with China and other Asian neighbors.

\n

houjunjie@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12501,28 +12127,6 @@ "hash": "85b62a5ed0b2bc4b0a0698a44f9d64f9", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "002NATION - White goods, electronics hot items in holiday", - "description": "

Visitors take photographs of a panda installation at a shopping mall in Shanghai on Saturday.

\n

Chinese consumers are enthusiastically unleashing their massive purchasing power during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with intelligent household appliances and electronic products gaining popularity amid the country's vigorous measures to boost consumption.

\n

Experts said the consumption boom during the Golden Week break indicates the enormous vitality and strong resilience of the world's second-largest economy, and will further unleash the potential of domestic demand to stimulate economic growth.

\n

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that during the first four days of the holiday, sales from key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased 3.3 percent year-on-year.

\n

The customer traffic and sales revenue at 78 key pedestrian streets and business districts monitored by the ministry rose 4.2 percent and 4 percent year-on-year, respectively, from Wednesday to Friday.

\n

Major e-commerce platforms monitored by the ministry saw their sales of energy-saving home appliances jump 19 percent year-on-year during the first four days of the eight-day holiday, while the sales of intelligent refrigerators and smart home devices grew 20.7 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

\n

Smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, outdoor sporting goods, and beauty and skincare products have witnessed rapid growth on leading online marketplaces such as JD, Taobao and Tmall during the holiday period.

\n

"China's consumption recovery is gaining momentum during the eight-day break, which demonstrates the continuous restoration of consumer confidence," said Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, highlighting that Chinese shoppers attach great importance to product quality and value, and prefer to purchase premium merchandise boasting high cost-effectiveness.

\n

Hong estimated that the country's consumer market is poised for steady growth this year, driven by a slew of supportive policy measures to boost consumption, stabilize employment and increase household income.

\n

E-commerce platforms should step up investment in technological innovation, improve shopping experience, and roll out more high-quality and intelligent commodities to attract young shoppers, he added.

\n

Consumption has become the main driving force bolstering China's economic growth. This year's Government Work Report made vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand across the board among the nation's top priorities for 2025.

\n

The country announced a raft of measures to expand the scope of the consumer goods trade-in program in January, increasing funding from 150 billion yuan ($20.9 billion) last year to 300 billion yuan, and offering subsidies for more home appliances and electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.

\n

With Mid-Autumn Festival falling alongside National Day this year, China's consumer market is picking up steam during the extended eight-day holiday, showcasing immense potential and strong resilience, said Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy.

\n

A series of pro-consumption policies have played a vital role in stimulating shoppers' purchasing appetites, shoring up domestic demand and spurring economic growth amid external uncertainties, Pan said, estimating that the country's consumption growth will gather pace in the fourth quarter of this year.

\n

Industry insiders said the Golden Week break has typically been a peak season for consumption when Chinese shoppers loosen their purse strings to buy personalized and diversified commodities at a brisk pace.

\n

China's consumption market has witnessed a sustained recovery. Retail sales, a major indicator of consumption strength, expanded 3.4 percent year-on-year in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Online sales remained a bright spot, expanding 9.6 percent year-on-year during the first eight months of the year.

\n

Mo Daiqing, a senior analyst at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy, said the robust recovery in consumer spending during the holiday is of great importance in bolstering market expectations as well as the confidence of investors and consumers.

\n

"The expansion of the consumer goods trade-in program has not only motivated consumers' enthusiasm to purchase and pushed up the sales of household appliances and electronic devices, but also bolstered the popularization of green and energy-saving products," she added.

\n

Zhou Guanlin, a Beijing white-collar worker, bought a new handset on Chinese e-commerce platform JD during the holiday. He enjoyed a discount of about 800 yuan with national subsidies and shopping coupons provided by the platform.

\n

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

Visitors take photographs of a panda installation at a shopping mall in Shanghai on Saturday.

\n

Chinese consumers are enthusiastically unleashing their massive purchasing power during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with intelligent household appliances and electronic products gaining popularity amid the country's vigorous measures to boost consumption.

\n

Experts said the consumption boom during the Golden Week break indicates the enormous vitality and strong resilience of the world's second-largest economy, and will further unleash the potential of domestic demand to stimulate economic growth.

\n

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that during the first four days of the holiday, sales from key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased 3.3 percent year-on-year.

\n

The customer traffic and sales revenue at 78 key pedestrian streets and business districts monitored by the ministry rose 4.2 percent and 4 percent year-on-year, respectively, from Wednesday to Friday.

\n

Major e-commerce platforms monitored by the ministry saw their sales of energy-saving home appliances jump 19 percent year-on-year during the first four days of the eight-day holiday, while the sales of intelligent refrigerators and smart home devices grew 20.7 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

\n

Smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, outdoor sporting goods, and beauty and skincare products have witnessed rapid growth on leading online marketplaces such as JD, Taobao and Tmall during the holiday period.

\n

"China's consumption recovery is gaining momentum during the eight-day break, which demonstrates the continuous restoration of consumer confidence," said Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, highlighting that Chinese shoppers attach great importance to product quality and value, and prefer to purchase premium merchandise boasting high cost-effectiveness.

\n

Hong estimated that the country's consumer market is poised for steady growth this year, driven by a slew of supportive policy measures to boost consumption, stabilize employment and increase household income.

\n

E-commerce platforms should step up investment in technological innovation, improve shopping experience, and roll out more high-quality and intelligent commodities to attract young shoppers, he added.

\n

Consumption has become the main driving force bolstering China's economic growth. This year's Government Work Report made vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand across the board among the nation's top priorities for 2025.

\n

The country announced a raft of measures to expand the scope of the consumer goods trade-in program in January, increasing funding from 150 billion yuan ($20.9 billion) last year to 300 billion yuan, and offering subsidies for more home appliances and electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.

\n

With Mid-Autumn Festival falling alongside National Day this year, China's consumer market is picking up steam during the extended eight-day holiday, showcasing immense potential and strong resilience, said Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy.

\n

A series of pro-consumption policies have played a vital role in stimulating shoppers' purchasing appetites, shoring up domestic demand and spurring economic growth amid external uncertainties, Pan said, estimating that the country's consumption growth will gather pace in the fourth quarter of this year.

\n

Industry insiders said the Golden Week break has typically been a peak season for consumption when Chinese shoppers loosen their purse strings to buy personalized and diversified commodities at a brisk pace.

\n

China's consumption market has witnessed a sustained recovery. Retail sales, a major indicator of consumption strength, expanded 3.4 percent year-on-year in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Online sales remained a bright spot, expanding 9.6 percent year-on-year during the first eight months of the year.

\n

Mo Daiqing, a senior analyst at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy, said the robust recovery in consumer spending during the holiday is of great importance in bolstering market expectations as well as the confidence of investors and consumers.

\n

"The expansion of the consumer goods trade-in program has not only motivated consumers' enthusiasm to purchase and pushed up the sales of household appliances and electronic devices, but also bolstered the popularization of green and energy-saving products," she added.

\n

Zhou Guanlin, a Beijing white-collar worker, bought a new handset on Chinese e-commerce platform JD during the holiday. He enjoyed a discount of about 800 yuan with national subsidies and shopping coupons provided by the platform.

\n

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/06/content_002_68e2c6baed50ccabe151aa6b.htm#002NATION", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "8125c7e1f10fd697065acce5f6422487", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "002NATION - Residents of Fuzhou, Taiwan unite as 'one family'", "description": "

The shared identity and family ties between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were the main theme of a Mid-Autumn Festival gathering on Saturday in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, the closest province on the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. The two sides are separated by a narrow strait.

\n

"Both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and part of one family," said Song Tao, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, emphasizing the need to oppose "Taiwan independence" and external interference to safeguard the homeland.

\n

The event — jointly hosted by Fuzhou and Matsu, a group of small islands administered by Taiwan just off the coast of the capital city — brought together over 250 participants, including Lien Sheng-wen, vice-chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, and Taiwan compatriots living in Fujian.

\n

With exhibits showcasing Mid-Autumn lanterns, Matsu cultural tourism and traditional folk customs, alongside displays set up by Taiwan enterprises, the event promoted mainland tourism to Matsu and showcased the achievements of cross-Strait integration development in Fuzhou.

\n

A highlight of the evening was a drone display featuring 500 drones forming messages, including "One Family Across the Strait", which was met with enthusiastic applause from attendees.

\n

Song's remarks came during a tea party for cross-Strait compatriots, in which he noted the significance of the 80th anniversaries of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), as well as Taiwan's retrocession. He also highlighted the V-Day parade at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on Sept 3, which stirred national pride among viewers, including many in Taiwan.

\n

Song called for increased cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation to deepen integration and enhance the well-being of the "family", as well as efforts toward peaceful development and national reunification.

\n

Lien said the Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes reunion, completeness and harmony. He affirmed that the KMT will continue to promote cross-Strait exchanges, peaceful development based on the 1992 Consensus, and opposition to "Taiwan independence".

\n

Participating Taiwan compatriots said the continuous advancement of cross-Strait integrated development has made studying, working and living on the mainland increasingly convenient for them.

\n

Wong Chen-hua, a former primary schoolteacher from Matsu, attended the celebration event in Fuzhou with other Matsu locals, where they performed traditional Matsu songs and dances. He also promoted Matsu's specialty liquor and tourist sites, hoping that more compatriots would visit Matsu.

\n

This year, there has been an increase in mainland tourists visiting Matsu, Wong said, adding that strengthening mutual understanding is essential to eliminating barriers, as both sides share common roots.

\n

"I have many relatives on the mainland, and because of the convenience, I often bring my children to travel extensively across it," he said. "I hope the ties between compatriots will grow even closer."

\n

Su Yu-sheng, who started teaching at the Ningde Normal University's College of Medical Science in Fujian six years ago after moving from Taiwan, said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he felt a deep longing for his family as he did not return to Taiwan. Participating in a cross-Strait Mid-Autumn Festival event for the first time, he found it interesting and heartwarming and made some new friends, he said.

\n

Contact the writers at zhangyi1@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12545,28 +12149,6 @@ "hash": "f174aa13f6c347e7a82123d907b2722a", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "002NATION - Diplomatic window for peace in Gaza reopens", - "description": "

A diplomatic window for ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip reemerged as negotiators converged in Cairo, Egypt, for talks scheduled on Monday after both Israel and Hamas signaled support for a new United States peace plan to stop the war and ensure release of all remaining hostages.

\n

The opportunity for peace, however fragile, has galvanized a chorus of optimistic statements from the international community, while mediators face the daunting task of bridging Israel's security demands, Hamas' bid for survival and the overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

\n

US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza includes immediate ceasefire, phased withdrawal of Israeli troops, freeing of all hostages within 72 hours, international oversight of humanitarian aid and rebuilding the devastated territory under international supervision.

\n

A Hamas statement on Friday said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to a technocratic Palestinian authority backed by Arab and Islamic states. The statement said the group was open to talks through mediators, but made no mention of Hamas disarming, which is a key Israeli demand.

\n

Hours later, Trump declared that Hamas' response indicated it is "ready for lasting peace", and he urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza, "so we can quickly and safely extract the hostages".

\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Friday that Israel is prepared for the implementation of the "first stage" of Trump's plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages, said late on Saturday that the Israeli military will continue to hold territories it controls in Gaza, and that Hamas will be disarmed diplomatically "or through a military path by us". He added that a delegation had been sent to Cairo for the talks.

\n

According to the White House, Trump dispatched two envoys on Saturday — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US' Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

\n

Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah have welcomed Hamas' statement, hoping it would become an important step toward achieving a complete ceasefire as the Gaza conflict nears its two-year mark.

\n

Qatar "welcomes the announcement by Hamas of its agreement to President Trump's plan", said its Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari. Egypt said it hoped "this positive development will lead all parties to rise to the level of responsibility by committing to implementing President Trump's plan on the ground and ending the war".

\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN "welcomes and is encouraged by the statement issued by Hamas, announcing its readiness to release hostages and to engage".

\n

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a social media post on Friday, said Hamas' response must be "followed up without delay", and, "we now have the opportunity to make decisive progress towards peace".

\n

Analysts said that Hamas' language was deliberately measured. The group said that broader political questions about Gaza's future and Palestinian rights would be decided collectively and "in line with international resolutions" — an acknowledgment of the US plan without binding concessions.

\n

"It's a tactical retreat, not a strategic surrender," said Esmat Mansour, a Ramallah-based political analyst. "Hamas highlighted positive points, like prisoner exchanges and civilian administration, while avoiding sensitive issues such as disarmament."

\n

Despite the Hamas statement saying that Trump's call to Israel to stop bombing Gaza is "encouraging", a senior Hamas official told AFP on Friday that the peace plan is "vague, ambiguous and lacks clarity".

\n

Meanwhile, Israeli forces pressed on with operations in Gaza City. As many as 70 people were killed since Hamas released its response, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.

\n

In Europe, pro-Palestine rallies were held on Saturday, calling for an end to the Gaza conflict and the immediate release of activists on board the Global Sumud flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

\n

Police in Rome, Italy, said some 250,000 people showed up for a fourth day of protests, after Israel intercepted the 45-strong flotilla seeking to reach Gaza last week. Nearly 70,000 people took to the streets in Barcelona, Spain, while in capital Madrid, nearly 92,000 marched for a free Palestine. In the United Kingdom, police said they made at least 442 arrests in London.

\n

In Paris, France, where some 10,000 people gathered, a spokeswoman for the French contingent of Global Sumud, Helene Coron, told the crowd: "We'll never stop. This flotilla didn't get to Gaza. But we'll send another, then another, until Palestine and Gaza are free."

\n

Agencies contributed to this report.

\n

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "content": "

A diplomatic window for ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip reemerged as negotiators converged in Cairo, Egypt, for talks scheduled on Monday after both Israel and Hamas signaled support for a new United States peace plan to stop the war and ensure release of all remaining hostages.

\n

The opportunity for peace, however fragile, has galvanized a chorus of optimistic statements from the international community, while mediators face the daunting task of bridging Israel's security demands, Hamas' bid for survival and the overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

\n

US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza includes immediate ceasefire, phased withdrawal of Israeli troops, freeing of all hostages within 72 hours, international oversight of humanitarian aid and rebuilding the devastated territory under international supervision.

\n

A Hamas statement on Friday said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to a technocratic Palestinian authority backed by Arab and Islamic states. The statement said the group was open to talks through mediators, but made no mention of Hamas disarming, which is a key Israeli demand.

\n

Hours later, Trump declared that Hamas' response indicated it is "ready for lasting peace", and he urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza, "so we can quickly and safely extract the hostages".

\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Friday that Israel is prepared for the implementation of the "first stage" of Trump's plan, apparently referring to the release of hostages, said late on Saturday that the Israeli military will continue to hold territories it controls in Gaza, and that Hamas will be disarmed diplomatically "or through a military path by us". He added that a delegation had been sent to Cairo for the talks.

\n

According to the White House, Trump dispatched two envoys on Saturday — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US' Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

\n

Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah have welcomed Hamas' statement, hoping it would become an important step toward achieving a complete ceasefire as the Gaza conflict nears its two-year mark.

\n

Qatar "welcomes the announcement by Hamas of its agreement to President Trump's plan", said its Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari. Egypt said it hoped "this positive development will lead all parties to rise to the level of responsibility by committing to implementing President Trump's plan on the ground and ending the war".

\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN "welcomes and is encouraged by the statement issued by Hamas, announcing its readiness to release hostages and to engage".

\n

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a social media post on Friday, said Hamas' response must be "followed up without delay", and, "we now have the opportunity to make decisive progress towards peace".

\n

Analysts said that Hamas' language was deliberately measured. The group said that broader political questions about Gaza's future and Palestinian rights would be decided collectively and "in line with international resolutions" — an acknowledgment of the US plan without binding concessions.

\n

"It's a tactical retreat, not a strategic surrender," said Esmat Mansour, a Ramallah-based political analyst. "Hamas highlighted positive points, like prisoner exchanges and civilian administration, while avoiding sensitive issues such as disarmament."

\n

Despite the Hamas statement saying that Trump's call to Israel to stop bombing Gaza is "encouraging", a senior Hamas official told AFP on Friday that the peace plan is "vague, ambiguous and lacks clarity".

\n

Meanwhile, Israeli forces pressed on with operations in Gaza City. As many as 70 people were killed since Hamas released its response, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.

\n

In Europe, pro-Palestine rallies were held on Saturday, calling for an end to the Gaza conflict and the immediate release of activists on board the Global Sumud flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

\n

Police in Rome, Italy, said some 250,000 people showed up for a fourth day of protests, after Israel intercepted the 45-strong flotilla seeking to reach Gaza last week. Nearly 70,000 people took to the streets in Barcelona, Spain, while in capital Madrid, nearly 92,000 marched for a free Palestine. In the United Kingdom, police said they made at least 442 arrests in London.

\n

In Paris, France, where some 10,000 people gathered, a spokeswoman for the French contingent of Global Sumud, Helene Coron, told the crowd: "We'll never stop. This flotilla didn't get to Gaza. But we'll send another, then another, until Palestine and Gaza are free."

\n

Agencies contributed to this report.

\n

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/06/content_002_68e2c6c2ed50ccabe151aa6f.htm#002NATION", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "8aa380216cb05072365dad0d213efa9b", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "003COVER - CAPTURING THE MOST CANDID MOMENTS", "description": "

A staff member introduces a traditional costume to travel photography customers in Taierzhuang ancient town, in Zaozhuang city of Shandong province.

\n

Costumes in various styles are popular choices for travel photography on Badaling Great Wall, Beijing.

\n

Costumes in various styles are popular choices for travel photography on Badaling Great Wall, Beijing.

\n

A makeup artist crafts a look for a travel photography client in Taierzhuang, Shandong.

\n\n

The sun beat down on the ancient stones of Beijing's Beihai Park, but Ma Zhixue barely noticed the heat.

\n

For nearly 12 hours a day during summer, he framed through his lens not only the city's iconic landscapes but also the fleeting, authentic moments of travelers to the capital city from around the world.

\n

"At the peak of the summer tourism season, I served up to 25 clients a day," the full-time travel photographer says.

\n

Ma's journey into travel photography began nearly five years ago when he noticed a rising demand for such photography experience.

\n

"More clients are requesting shoots during their travels, featuring hanfu (traditional Chinese attire), imperial-era costumes and atmospheric ancient architecture," he notes.

\n

Locations like Beijing's Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and Beihai Park remain perennially popular for their ability to evoke China's historical grandeur, he explains.

\n

While traditional photography tends to rely more on controlled poses and studio lighting, and landscape photographers must chase specific natural lighting, Ma pays more attention to capturing people candidly within historical settings.

\n

"My clients range from the very young to the elderly. My goal is always the same: to create images that are genuine, spontaneous and deeply personal," he emphasizes.

\n

A typical shoot begins well before the camera is lifted. Ma consults with clients about their preferences, suggests locations and styles, and often flips through sample albums to align each other's expectations.

\n

During photography sessions, he avoids rigid directions and instead encourages natural interactions and movement. After a shoot, he reviews the images on-site with the clients and reshoots if necessary, ensuring everyone leaves happy.

\n

As the summer crowds gradually thinned, a brief lull allowed Ma Zhixue to catch his breath, but not for long. The National Day holiday has seen his full packed calendar.

\n

By mid-September, four days of the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays have been booked, he says with a mix of pride and exhaustion.

\n

"The demand for a blend of photography and cultural storytelling shows no sign of slowing down," Ma says.

\n

Sun Na, manager of the overall travel photography operations at the iconic cultural landmark Badaling Great Wall, says the business has attracted visitors for a range of special occasions, from proposals and graduation celebrations to family reunions and diaspora homecomings.

\n

"We are not simply using the Wall as a backdrop but are opening a channel for emotions to resonate with ancient civilization," Sun says.

\n

Epic grandeur, ritual significance and a distinct Chinese imprint are guiding the principles behind everything from location selection to style choices, she explains.

\n

Sun's team has developed narrative-driven themes such as Guarding the Great Wall, the Silk Road Envoy, and Moon Over the Frontier, incorporating costumes that bear historical elements and dignified poses to reflect the Great Wall's solemnity.

\n

"While Chinese tourists often seek to integrate into the historical tapestry through traditional hanfu attire or cheongsam, international visitors tend toward contrast — posing in modern wedding gowns, or even suits, against the ancient stones, expressing vitality against silence," Sun observes.

\n

According to Qichacha, a leading business information platform, China's travel photography market still has considerable growth potential.

\n

More than 6,000 travel photography enterprises are currently in operation nationwide. In 2024 alone, over 2,500 new businesses were registered, a year-on-year increase of over 22 percent.

\n

Taierzhuang ancient town in Zaozhuang city of Shandong province prepared to welcome visitors with Mid-Autumn Festival-themed photoshoots inspired by Chang'e, the moon goddess.

\n

"It is a perfect fusion of myth, history and modern creativity," says Feng Jinle, an official in charge of travel photography operations at the resort, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

\n

Feng took the lead in developing the town's travel photography industry in early 2023, testing the market by sharing photography content highlighting hanfu on the popular livestream platform Douyin.

\n

The town's unique historical backdrop, featuring Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal culture, provides rich material for themed photoshoots.

\n

"Young women took quite a shine to the idea of dressing as ancient brewery girls along the canal," Feng says.

\n

It immediately garnered an enthusiastic response from online viewers, which led to the travel photography business' official launch a few months later.

\n

The first store, located near the scenic spot's east gate, offers quick-change hanfu services, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in traditional attire upon entering the ancient town.

\n

By the end of 2023, revenue from this single store had reached nearly 2 million yuan ($281,550), Feng says.

\n

As demand grew, a second flagship store was opened at the center of the area, spanning 650 square meters and catering to mid-range and high-end customers with customized, historically accurate costumes and scenes inspired by ancient dynasties.

\n

A third store, developed in collaboration with the local civil affairs bureau and themed around marriage registration, is scheduled to open later this year.

\n

"Our primary customer base is predominantly female, accounting for more than 92 percent, with over 50 percent under 35," Feng says.

\n

Today, the project employs 12 full-time staff, including makeup artists, photographers and digital marketing specialists.

\n

The booming travel photography industry has also inspired over 40 businesses within the ancient town, including hotels and retail stores, to incorporate hanfu services, generating a combined annual revenue of over 20 million yuan.

\n

To manage the influx and maintain a quality experience, Feng says his team has implemented measures, such as designated photography zones and guidelines that help to avoid disrupting other visitors.

\n

Looking ahead, the scenic spot plans to incorporate AI-assisted costume selection and digital scene previews to enhance efficiency. The team is also developing customized short videos and drama productions to further deepen the integration of culture and technology.

\n

"We're giving visitors a chance to step into history and become part of Taierzhuang's living heritage," Feng says.

\n

Kang Jiawang has firsthand experience of how travel photography has become a central part of the visitor experience in Xijiang Qianhu Miao village, Guizhou province.

\n

"We've seen everything from family portraits to friends and parent-child shoots," says Kang, who runs a travel photography store in the ethnic Miao village, known for its rich cultural heritage and breathtaking natural landscapes.

\n

Since opening in May 2024, the store has welcomed over 30,000 visitors, with peak travel season seeing around 150 clients per day.

\n

Kang's team, which includes eight photographers and eight makeup artists, usually works from early morning to midnight to meet the demand.

\n

They offer an immersive experience where visitors can step into a world of Miao ethnic culture through traditional clothing, makeup and a stunning landscape.

\n

"There's something magical about night photography here. The way the village lights up, combined with traditional Miao outfits, makes for truly spectacular images," Kang explains.

\n

Located in the heart of the village, Kang's store has become a go-to spot for tourists eager to capture the village's essence.

\n

The store specializes in providing traditional Miao attire and expert makeup services, ensuring visitors are fully immersed in the culture. Guests are guided to various scenic spots, from the observation deck and ancient alleyways to the iconic wind-and-rain bridge.

\n

"We focus on providing a seamless experience from the moment they walk in until they leave with their desired images," Kang says.

\n

For those looking to break into the industry, Beijing-based travel photographer Ma Zhixue emphasizes that technical skill alone is not enough.

\n

"A successful travel photographer must have passion, cultural insight, creativity, and strong communication skills. It's about understanding people as much as pixels, and stories as much as settings," he says.

\n

yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn

\n

", @@ -12589,28 +12171,6 @@ "hash": "730651aaf8c8ba5c241af778a1ba0125", "highlights": [] }, - { - "title": "004WORLD - Pharaoh's tomb opens after over 2 decades of renovation", - "description": "

Visitors look at the tomb of Amenhotep III, in the Valley of Kings in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt, on Saturday, as it opened to visitors for the first time in more than two decades.

\n

LUXOR, Egypt — Egypt on Saturday opened a tomb of a pharaoh for visitors after more than two decades of renovation in the southern city of Luxor, as it prepares for the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

\n

The huge tomb of Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1390 BC and 1350 BC, is located on the western side of the famed Valley of the Kings. It was found in 1799 by two people and its contents were looted, including the sarcophagus, Egyptian antiquities authorities said.

\n

It has been under a Japanese-led, three-phased restoration project for the past two decades, including renovating paintings of the pharaoh and his wife on the tomb walls, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

\n

"It's a very fascinating tomb," he told The Associated Press at the scene, adding it includes a frame of the stolen sarcophagus box.

\n

The tomb starts with a 36-meter-long, 14-meter-deep, downward-sloping passageway beneath the Valley of the Kings. It includes a main burial chamber for the king, and two other chambers for his wives, Queens Tiye and Sitamun.

\n

Unlike other ancient tombs in the valley, the tomb is not fully decorated, Khaled said. Its paintings show Amenhotep III with a group of ancient Egyptian gods, and the burial chamber contains inscriptions of scenes from the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt.

\n

The mummy of Amenhotep III was moved by ancient priests to the tomb of his grandfather, Amenhotep II, also in the Valley of the Kings, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The severely damaged mummy is showcased at the museum along with 16 other mummies of 17 kings and queens of ancient Egypt.

\n

Amenhotep III was one of the most prominent pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, which ruled between 1550 BC and 1292 BC, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

\n

The tomb's reopening came less than a month before the official inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids. The museum is scheduled to open on Nov 1.

\n


获取更多RSS：
https://feedx.net
https://feedx.site
", - "content": "

Visitors look at the tomb of Amenhotep III, in the Valley of Kings in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt, on Saturday, as it opened to visitors for the first time in more than two decades.

\n

LUXOR, Egypt — Egypt on Saturday opened a tomb of a pharaoh for visitors after more than two decades of renovation in the southern city of Luxor, as it prepares for the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

\n

The huge tomb of Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1390 BC and 1350 BC, is located on the western side of the famed Valley of the Kings. It was found in 1799 by two people and its contents were looted, including the sarcophagus, Egyptian antiquities authorities said.

\n

It has been under a Japanese-led, three-phased restoration project for the past two decades, including renovating paintings of the pharaoh and his wife on the tomb walls, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

\n

"It's a very fascinating tomb," he told The Associated Press at the scene, adding it includes a frame of the stolen sarcophagus box.

\n

The tomb starts with a 36-meter-long, 14-meter-deep, downward-sloping passageway beneath the Valley of the Kings. It includes a main burial chamber for the king, and two other chambers for his wives, Queens Tiye and Sitamun.

\n

Unlike other ancient tombs in the valley, the tomb is not fully decorated, Khaled said. Its paintings show Amenhotep III with a group of ancient Egyptian gods, and the burial chamber contains inscriptions of scenes from the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt.

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The mummy of Amenhotep III was moved by ancient priests to the tomb of his grandfather, Amenhotep II, also in the Valley of the Kings, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The severely damaged mummy is showcased at the museum along with 16 other mummies of 17 kings and queens of ancient Egypt.

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Amenhotep III was one of the most prominent pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, which ruled between 1550 BC and 1292 BC, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

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The tomb's reopening came less than a month before the official inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids. The museum is scheduled to open on Nov 1.

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", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-10/06/content_004_68e2c6d0ed50ccabe151aa73.htm#004WORLD", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:21:04 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "1c0410d01944d749736d0c15f53a0757", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "004WORLD - Unilateral coercive measures opposed", "description": "

China, on behalf of a cross-regional group of 28 member states, on Friday delivered a joint statement at the Third Committee of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, calling for the immediate and complete removal of unilateral coercive measures, or UCMs.

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The statement, delivered on behalf of countries, including Belarus, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Pakistan and Russia, warned that UCMs have become a major source of instability and disorder in the international system.

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"As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary, the international community must remain clearheaded, strengthen unity and cooperation, and firmly curb and stop such unlawful practices," said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

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Fu stressed that developing countries and their populations continue to fall victim to unilateral coercive measures, "which violate the principle of sovereign equality and cooperation, interfere in other countries' internal affairs, disregard the UN Charter and undermine the foundation of multilateralism and international rule of law".

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Fu stated that unilateral sanctions severely hinder countries' ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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"Despite the global call to urgently lift UCMs, the imposition of these illegal measures continues to cause devastating, sometimes even life-threatening consequences, to targeted countries and their peoples," Fu added.

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Stability undermined

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"UCMs, coupled with secondary sanctions and overcompliance, exacerbate existing humanitarian and economic challenges, gravely affect the stability of the global production and supply chains, as well as food, energy and financial security, and seriously undermine the world economic order and the efforts of the countries concerned to achieve Sustainable Development Goals," said Fu.

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Fu emphasized that UCMs "violate fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, health, education and development".

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Fu also expressed concern that unilateral coercive measures and overcompliance have limited affected countries' access to investment, technology, international exchanges in culture, sports, travel, people-to-people exchanges, and transport, including civil aviation.

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The statement welcomed the 2025 Ministerial Declaration of the Group of 77 and China, which reaffirmed that coercive economic measures against developing countries do not contribute to peace, development or dialogue among nations.

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The 28 countries urged "certain Western states" to "heed the just calls of the international community, honor their commitments to the UN Charter and international law, and immediately, unconditionally and completely lift all unilateral coercive measures".

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In a separate speech delivered during the general debate of the Third Committee, Fu also outlined China's proposals, including the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative and Global Governance Initiative. He stated these proposals "reflect the universal aspirations for peace, justice and progress" and "offer Chinese wisdom and solutions for strengthening and improving global governance".

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Looking ahead, Fu said China will continue to promote women's empowerment, eliminate discrimination, and support the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights.

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China is committed to working with all parties to address global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, refugees, food security, and the governance of emerging fields like digital technology and artificial intelligence, said Fu.

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minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com

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