BEIJING: China’s output of early rice rose 0.8 percent year on year to reach 28.34 million tonnes in 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The sown area of early rice dropped 0.5 percent from a year earlier to 4.73 million hectares, but the yield per hectare increased 1.2 percent to 5,987 kg per hectare, the bureau said. “The …

BEIJING: China’s top securities regulator has specified an array of initiatives aimed at invigorating the capital market and boosting investor confidence to stabilize market expectations. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said Friday it would accelerate reform at the investment end, make listed companies more attractive for investment, and optimize and improve trading mechanisms. This will be done by implementing 25 …

BEIJING: China welcomes and commends a resolution of the Central American Parliament to revoke the “permanent observer status” of the so-called “Legislative Yuan” of the Taiwan region and accept the National People’s Congress of China as a permanent observer, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. “This again shows that the one-China principle represents the unstoppable trend of the times …

BEIJING: Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Rustam Emomali, chairman of the National Assembly of Tajikistan, in Beijing on Tuesday. Han said the China-Tajikistan relationship has made continuous headway, with fruitful outcomes of cooperation under the strategic guidance of the two countries’ leaders. He said China is ready to work with Tajikistan to act on the important consensus of …

BEIJING: For Eleanor Grace Ellsworth, a college student from the United States, her recent experience of cycling across the Central Axis of Beijing was just like a time travel trip which brought her into close contact with the rich history and culture of the Chinese capital. “It has been really fascinating! This class was a good opportunity to actually explore …

BEIJING: The output value of China’s display panels exceeded 360 billion yuan (about 50 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, accounting for 48 percent of the global total, an official said on Tuesday. Although affected by sluggish downstream demand, China’s new display industry still showed strong resilience and impact resistance, said Yang Xudong, an official of the Ministry of Industry and …

BEIJING: The number of criminal cases related to firearms and explosives in China hit a record low in 2022, a ministry official said Tuesday. “China has become one of the countries with the lowest incidences of gun and explosives violence in the world,” said Qi Xiguo, deputy head of the public security management bureau under the Ministry of Public Security …

BEIJING: The nation’s railways recorded 701 million railway passenger trips from July 1 to Aug. 21, data from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. shows. The number of passenger trips handled by railways nationwide was approximately 15.69 million last Saturday, a record daily high for the summer travel rush, the data shows. During the period, 10,444 trains were operating …

SHENYANG: A total of 63 county-level regions in northeast China’s Liaoning have activated emergency response for flood control as heavy rainfall lashed the province, triggering flooding of rivers and forcing the evacuation of residents. In Liaoning, water levels in four reservoirs have exceeded flood alarm thresholds, prompting the discharge of floodwater, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said …

BEIJING: More than 50 out of the 75 rare disease drugs approved for marketing in China have been incorporated into the catalog of medicines covered by medical insurance, according to the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA). To enhance the accessibility and affordability of rare disease drugs, the NHSA has added more qualifying medications to the medical insurance drug list by …

EIJING: China’s new development drivers have gained momentum, adding to economic vitality and innovation capability, an index showed. The new growth driver index, compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), increased by 28.4 percent in 2022 from a year ago to hit 766.8, the NBS said. With 2014 as the base year and 100 points as the base value, …

BEIJING: In response to the worst flooding in the Haihe River Basin since 1963, Chinese authorities are pumping recovery funds into the area, and, with the floodwaters receding after the July 28 to August 1 deluge, residents are beginning to return home. Some 22 rivers in the basin experienced above-warning level flooding, and eight rivers reported the largest floods ever …

BEIJING: China’s finance ministry has allocated 2.4 billion yuan (about 329.7 million U.S. dollars) in subsidies for fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural sprays to help ensure a bumper harvest of autumn grains. The subsidized sprays improve the yields of autumn grains such as corn and soybeans, and strengthen their resistance to detrimental environmental factors. The ministry has urged local governments …

TIANJIN: North China’s port city of Tianjin reported a year-on-year rise of 2.93 percent in its cross-border e-commerce trade in the first seven months of 2023, said the municipal commerce bureau. The total volume reached around 7.55 billion yuan (about 1.05 billion U.S. dollars) in January-July. During the period, imports saw a year-on-year increase of 2.77 percent to 2.3 billion …

BEIJING: German industrial automation company Festo displayed its bionic swift and butterfly robots, demonstrating their flight capabilities, at the ongoing 2023 World Robot Conference in Beijing. “The research and development of bionic robots represents a process that humans learn from nature. The automation products simulate the motion principles of animals,” said Wang Weijuan, a staffer with Festo Business Region Greater …

JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 20, 2023 (Xinhua) —New China Research (NCR), the think tank of China’s Xinhua News Agency, released in Johannesburg of South Africa on Saturday the English and French versions of two research reports on Xi Jinping’s economic thought and the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) “Second Integration” theory. The two reports, which are entitled “Toward Modernity: The Value of …

BEIJING: The 11th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and their Relatives will be held in Beijing from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, according to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) on Monday. The congress will review and summarize the work of the federations of returned overseas Chinese over the past five years and plan work for the …

CHENGDU: A search for six people is underway in a village in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, southwest China, after a heavy downpour in the early hours of Monday, local authorities said. At about 5 a.m. on Monday, a brief bout of heavy rain triggered a natural disaster at a highway construction site along a river in Dengchang Village, …

BEIJING/JOHANNESBURG: China is playing an important role in driving mutually beneficial BRICS cooperation, said experts, noting that further developments are expected to emerge as the 15th BRICS Summit takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from Aug. 22 to 24. Guided by the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, member nations have enhanced cooperation to promote economic recovery in …

BEIJING: China is taking multi-pronged disaster relief measures to minimize the impact of flooding on agricultural production in affected areas and to accelerate the restoration of normal life and production. Heavy floods triggered by typhoons have swept across large swathes of China this summer, resulting in significant damage to vital crops, including rice. As this is a crucial period for …

BEIJING: A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled “Sailing the Giant Ship of China-South Africa Friendship and Cooperation Toward Greater Success” was published Monday on South African media as he is going to attend the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg and pay a state visit to South Africa. An English version of the article, carried by The Star, …

CAPE TOWN: At 6:30 a.m. every morning in De Aar, a small town more than 750 km northeast of Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa, Deswin Basson would stand at the door of his house in the cold wind, waiting for his colleagues to pick him up and drive him to work at a substation more than 20 …

LIUPANSHUI: Sitting over 565.4 meters above a valley, the Beipanjiang Bridge in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has been certified as the world’s highest bridge by the Guinness World Records. In recent years, the bridge has turned out to be a popular tourist attraction owing to the stunning scenery around it. Ma Xuanjun, a farmer living near the Beipanjiang Bridge, turned …

BEIJING: More overseas institutional investors entered China’s bond market as the country opened up its bond market wider to the world. Last month, five new overseas institutional investors entered China’s interbank bond market, bringing the total number to 1,102, according to the China Central Depository & Clearing Co. (CCDC). At the end of July, the total amount of bonds owned …

JIUQUAN: China sent a new Earth observation satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday. The satellite, Gaofen-12 04, was launched by a Long March-4C carrier rocket at 1:45 a.m. (Beijing Time) and has entered the planned orbit successfully. It will be used in a variety of fields, including land surveys, urban planning, road …

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Monday for the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a state visit to South Africa. Xi is visiting at the invitation of President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. While in South Africa, the two leaders will co-chair the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue. Xi’s entourage includes …

BEIJING: China’s water and soil erosion area decreased last year amid the country’s efforts to restore the ecological environment, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. The country’s water and soil erosion area stood at 2.65 million square km in 2022, down 20,800 square km, or 0.78 percent, compared with 2021, according to the results of national monitoring of soil …

BEIJING: China saw a steady increase in the newly installed capacity of clean energy in the first seven months of 2023. The newly installed capacity of solar power expanded 42.9 percent year on year to 490 million kilowatts, while that of wind power stood at about 390 million kilowatts, representing a yearly increase of 14.3 percent, data from the National …

BEIJING: The foldable smartphone market has seen remarkable growth in China, with shipments jumping 173 percent year on year to reach 1.26 million units in the second quarter of 2023, according to an industry report. In the first half of the year, the country shipped 2.27 million foldable phones, marking a 102-percent surge from the same period last year, said …

BEIJING: Here are the latest Chinese sports headlines from the past week: China edges New Zealand to clinch third place in basketball Supercup Li Kaier made a crucial interception as China rallied from behind to edge New Zealand 69-68 at the 2023 Basketball Supercup in Hamburg on August 13. With just under 10 seconds left, Li, the first naturalized player …

BEIJING: Chinese scientists have discovered a new form of pulsar emissions, called dwarf pulses, using the country’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST). The discovery was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy. According to the study, pulsars radiate radio signals when they rotate. However, some old pulsars often cease radiating for some periods, a phenomenon called “nulling.” The underlying …

NANJING: East China’s Jiangsu Province has registered the trading of over 1 million green electricity certificates, according to Jiangsu Power Exchange Center Co., Ltd. The province is one of the first regions in China to approve the trading of green electricity certificates. Renewable electricity producers can obtain a government-issued certificate which represents 1,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, and sell the …

YANGON: The ongoing seventh China-South Asia Expo in China’s southwestern city of Kunming presents a great opportunity for Myanmar products to broaden their market horizons, a senior Myanmar official said. Htein Lin, deputy director-general of Myanmar Trade Promotion Organization under the Ministry of Commerce, expressed his optimism about the expo’s impact on Myanmar’s export sector, citing the potential it holds …

SHANGHAI: The cruise industry in Shanghai has achieved ticket sales of more than 300 million yuan (about 41.66 million U.S. dollars) since the pilot resumption of the country’s international cruise services in late March. Since the end of March, with Shanghai’s active promotion of the pilot resumption of international cruise services, over 4,000 new jobs have been created, the municipal …

BEIJING: Chinese authorities said Saturday they will ensure that residents affected by disasters can return home or resettle in new homes as soon as possible. During a video conference, the office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management said that the main flood season continues, and that the flood and drought situations …

BEIJING: The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Saturday pre-allocated another 1 billion yuan (about 139 million U.S. dollars) as part of the central government’s support for disaster relief work in regions affected by flooding. The finance ministry said in a statement on its website that the new funding will mainly support relief work for residents …

BEIJING: The leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea convened at Camp David on Friday to unveil their plans for bolstering military ties while deliberately propagating rhetoric about the so-called “China threat.” Orchestrated under U.S. guidance, the trio is endeavoring to forge a closed and exclusive geopolitical clique under the guise of “security cooperation.” Such a maneuver will …

HANGZHOU: Over 40 years ago, dykes were built by hand connecting Dongzhou Island, on the Qiantang River of east China’s Zhejiang Province, with the outside world. Xu Manshan, then a local teenager, offered a helping hand, throwing rocks into the river. “The heavy work cost me several pairs of straw shoes, but I managed to carry on, even going barefoot,” …

URUMQI: A total of 273 intent projects will be signed during the ongoing 2023 (China) Eurasia Commodity and Trade Expo, which opened in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Thursday. The projects, amounting to more than 493.2 billion yuan (about 68.49 billion U.S. dollars), marked an increase of 1.52 times compared to the total value of projects signed at …

BEIJING: At the invitation of President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa and pay a state visit to South Africa from Aug. 21 to 24. While in South Africa, President Xi will co-chair with President Ramaphosa the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue. DISCUSSING …