Month: September 2021

(Xinhua)13:42, November 30, 2020

HOHHOT, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — Chinas border city of Manzhouli reported three confirmed local COVID-19 cases in the past day, local health authorities said Monday.

The new cases were registered from 7 a.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Among them, one patient was re-categorized from a previously reported asymptomatic carrier, the regional health commission said.

Three new asymptomatic cases were also reported during the same period in Manzhouli, according to the commission.

As of 7 a.m. Monday, Manzhouli had 14 existing local confirmed cases, four asymptomatic cases and two suspected cases. Their 940 close contacts have been placed under medical observation.

Epidemiological surveys and source tracing work regarding the cases are underway.

Manzhouli launched its first round of citywide nucleic acid testing on Nov. 22, and the second round of tests on Friday.

The autonomous region currently has four imported cases.

(Xinhua)17:14, November 30, 2020

LHASA, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — As high-altitude winds greet the early morning, Gyatso loads the packages of incense sticks into a car. The incense is bound for the city of Lhasa more than 100 km away.

These incense sticks are made through a unique process — a waterwheel drives wood strips around, causing them to beat against stones underwater, turning the strips into a wood-mud material that is used to make the Tibetan incense.

The tractional technique dates back more than 1,300 years in Tonta, a village in Lhasa, capital of southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region.

Our family has been making Tibetan incense for generations. When I was a child, the Tibetan incense was made by hand. During our spare time, we carried the incense to Lhasa, Shigatse and other places to sell it. At that time, it was very hard and we didnt make much money, said Gyatso.

The Tibetan incense is a kind of medicinal incense. Due to the high price of Tibetan medicinal materials needed to make such incense, many people have given up the traditional craft and moved on to other places to make a living. The prices of incense made in family workshops vary greatly, thus leading to blind competition and a lack of innovation.

In order to open up a market, Gyatso began to innovate the incense varieties. After hundreds of failures, eight new Tibetan incense products were born. With the new products, Gyatsos business gradually improved.

In 2008, Gyatso established a company based on his original workshop with his own trademark. In 2019, his incense brand won a gold award at the China Trademark Festival.

Increasing in popularity, Gyatsos Tibetan incense is not only a hot commodity in Tibet, but also deeply loved by customers in other regions including Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong. In 2019, the turnover of his company reached 950,000 yuan (about 144,000 U.S. dollars) and profits exceeded 300,000 yuan.

Now we have 25 employees, most of whom are local women, with an average age of over 40, and some of them are from poor households, he said. We provide our employees with raw materials, venues and training and pay according to output. Now everyones income has increased, and poor households have been lifted out of poverty.

In August 2016, Tonta Village set up another Tibetan incense company in the form of a cooperative. The local government gave favorable policies to those who bought shares, and 35 villages have joined the company.

After the establishment of the company, the village officials started to look for markets and orders. Some villages were in charge of production and management. A dividend mechanism was also established.

In 2018, Tonta Village cast off poverty, with an annual per capita income of over 11,000 yuan.

In recent years, the company has actively explored the domestic market and cooperated with major e-commerce platforms to sell the incense.

We are also going to cooperate with a professional e-commerce team in Lhasa to continue to expand our online business via livestreaming and short videos, said Tenzin Jigme, a village official.

(Xinhua)17:17, November 30, 2020

XIAN, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — Infrared cameras have captured photos and videos of Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys and a wild leopard in a nature reserve in northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province, the reserves administration said Monday.

The rare animals were found in Niubeiliang Nature Reserve after the reserve sorted out around 5,000 pictures and 4,000 video clips shot on the infrared cameras set up this year.

The Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys, an indigenous species on Chinas top protection list, were spotted for the first time in the reserve in two pictures and two clips taken by different cameras, according to the reserve.

They also found a 16-second clip of an adult wild leopard, which is on the top protection list, on Oct. 2.

The cameras have captured photos and videos of more than 20 species of wild animals.

Niubeiliang is part of the Qinling Mountains, which are known as Chinas gene bank of wildlife as they house a huge variety of plants and wild animals such as giant pandas, golden monkeys and crested ibis.

(Xinhua)15:08, November 28, 2020

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Most major production goods monitored by the government posted higher prices in mid-November compared with the previous 10 days, official data showed.

Of the 50 goods monitored by the government, including seamless steel tubes, gasoline, coal, fertilizer and some chemicals, the price of 36 goods rose during the period, with 12 posting dropping prices and two seeing their prices unchanged, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Styrene led the upward trend in prices, followed by sulfuric acid and benzene, according to the NBS.

The reading, released every 10 days, is based on a survey of nearly 1,700 wholesalers and distributors in 24 provinces and regions.

(Peoples Daily Online)11:00, November 26, 2020

A South Korean exhibitor promotes cosmetics via live-streaming at the China Yiwu Imported Commodities Fair 2020 held in Yiwu, east China鈥檚 Zhejiang province. (Photo by Qian Xusheng/People鈥檚 Daily Online)

鈥淭hese grapes come from the alpine areas of South Korea. They are organic fruit and have a strong fragrance. You can eat the skin, too,鈥?said the head of the China business of Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp. in a live-streaming promotion in fluent Mandarin Chinese.

鈥淏uy it! Buy it!鈥?This popular catchphrase made famous by a Chinese live-streaming host was used by the commercial adviser at the Consulate General of the Republic of Chile in Shanghai during a live-streaming show to promote Chilean avocados and cherries.

The booming online market in China is seeing more and more foreign business executives, stars, and diplomats-turned-live-streaming hosts promote products on online platforms. These eye-catching foreign hosts have promoted various products, including black tea from Sri Lanka, edible bird鈥檚 nests from Malaysia, fish oil from Norway, blueberries from Peru, kiwi fruit from New Zealand, and chocolate from Belgium via live-streaming shows.

Chinese consumers embrace new technologies faster than Westerners, said Bruno Schiavi, co-founder of U.S. hemp and CBD health products provider Uncle Bud鈥檚.

Schiavi likes the fact that he can get immediate feedback from consumers during live-streaming promotions, adding that they enable the company to have more interactions with consumers.

Uncle Bud鈥檚 joined Alibaba鈥檚 online marketplace Tmall not long ago. The company invited former NBA player Dakari Johnson to interact with Chinese consumers during its live-streaming show as its brand ambassador.

During this year鈥檚 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping spree in China, diplomats from 20 countries promoted their countries鈥?products via live-streaming shows, achieving striking results.

The innovative sales promotion mode featuring the combination of diplomats and live-streaming can build trust quickly and encourage consumers to make purchases without doubting the quality of the products, said industry insiders.

Statistics from China鈥檚 Ministry of Commerce (MOC) show that the first half of this year saw over 10 million sales through promotional live-streaming shows in China. These shows promoted sales of over 20 million items and were watched more than 50 billion times.

Experts predicted that the size of China鈥檚 live-streaming e-commerce market will reach 1.05 trillion yuan ($159.6 billion) this year.

Photo shows people making an online promotional video for a seller of imported wine in Qingtian county, Lishui, Zhejiang province. (Photo by Xu Yu/Xinhua)

Foreign brands that have committed themselves to expanding their influence in the Chinese market definitely do not want to miss this great opportunity.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korean cosmetics enterprises saw the 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping spree in China as an important opportunity for a rebound in sales performance.

A brand under South Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific scored over 100 million yuan in sales in the first three minutes of presales for this year鈥檚 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping spree.

Japanese brands have also benefited from the festival. Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented staff members of some Japanese beauty equipment manufacturers from going to China to promote their products in person, many brands, including YA-MAN, Kao, and Shiseido have managed to maintain smooth sales channels through the Internet, according to Japanese media.

With 1.4 billion people and a middle-income demographic made up of more than 400 million people, China is a huge market with the greatest potential in the world. The country is expected to import more than $22 trillion worth of products in the next 10 years, according to industry insiders.

The vitality of China鈥檚 digital economy and potential of the country鈥檚 domestic demand continue to attract foreign brands.

The luxury goods industry, which has been hit hard by COVID-19, has also ramped up efforts to seize a larger slice of China鈥檚 online market.

According to credible data, 10 luxury brands brought their latest products to China via the Tmall platform during this year鈥檚 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping festival. Brands including Cartier and Vacheron Constantin took part in the shopping spree for the first time this year. Vacheron Constantin even debuted its new products, which it had planned to release in global markets this Christmas, at the 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping festival ahead of schedule.

Since the beginning of this year, China has become the major battlefield for many overseas brands seeking business growth.

During this year鈥檚 鈥淒ouble 11鈥?shopping spree, Tmall alone witnessed a total of 25,000 new foreign companies, more than 2,600 new foreign brands, and 1.2 million new imports joining the festival for the first time.

From Nov. 1 to 12 p.m. on Nov. 11, the transaction volume of imports on the Tmall Global shopping platform recorded a 47.3 percent growth year on year, while the sales volume of 180 foreign brands exceeded 10 million yuan and 816 foreign brands made more than 1 million yuan in transactions.

Favorable policies for cross-border e-commerce and support from the relevant major platforms can facilitate the entry of more overseas brands into the Chinese market, at the same time as bringing cross-border e-commerce onto the fast track of development, pointed out experts.

(Xinhua)14:41, November 27, 2020

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) — While China is striving to eradicate absolute poverty and achieve the goal of building a moderately prosperous society, the countrys top football league has joined the efforts.

Football fields, training classes, and facilities are provided to local governments and schools, and members of the Chinese Super League (CSL) even offer to solve drinking water problems in villages by donating wells.

In October, Hebei China Fortune Football Club of the Chinese Super League (CSL) launched a second campaign to help build football training systems in Butuo County and Meigu County in Liangshan Prefecture, southwest Chinas Sichuan Province, which used to be national-level poverty-stricken counties and recently moved out of poverty. A total of 41 PE teachers were trained in the process.

Hebei clubs campaign is part of Liangshan Prefectures youth sports development project starting in 2019, which has seen eight students selected into the provisional Sichuan under-9 team.

The trip is just one branch of a series of actions by the Chinese football clubs.

The CSL also established a special program for girls interested in football and put them under the guidance of professional players at the Manglin Primary School, deep in the mountains of Shidian County, Yunnan Province. They are taking the classes online now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will all meet many people who selflessly help in our lives. The only thing one should learn is to help others when capable, said Chinese International Gao Lin from Shenzhen F.C.

Besides classes, the CSL has also made efforts to provide sporting facilities for the rural children.

In 2019, it reached a supportive initiative on football poverty alleviation with the local government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. A joint fund by the CSL and the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation donated a five-a-side football field to solve the shortage of local sports centers, the seventh football field it has sponsored.

In June, Shandong Luneng club, represented by then coach Li Xiaopeng and players Hao Junmin, Wang Dalei, Zheng Zheng and Zhang Chi, donated 400,000 yuan (about 60,000 U.S. dollars) to a village in Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province for digging a well.

(Xinhua)09:17, November 27, 2020

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — The Chinese capital Beijing will install automated external defibrillator (AED) facilities in all key public places by the end of 2022, local health authorities said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at least 80 percent of on-site staff in these places will receive training on first-aid knowledge and skills by 2022, said Zhang Hua, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission.

A total of 105 metro stations along seven metro lines in Beijing will have AED facilities by the end of this year. Other key public places include theaters, stadiums, airports, train stations, schools, and tourist spots, according to authorities.

Earlier this year, the Beijing municipal government formulated a three-year-plan on strengthening the capabilities of public health emergency management, with an emphasis on pre-hospital emergency care.

According to the plan, the number of first-aid facilities will be increased to 465, and the number of negative pressure ambulances to 100. The average response time of pre-hospital medical emergency services will be less than 12 minutes.

The city has established a pilot emergency information-sharing system, in which seven hospitals have started coordination in emergency resource dispatching and the sharing of ambulances and real-time emergency room information, authorities said.

(Xinhua)09:13, November 27, 2020

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — South Chinas Guangdong Province has built more than 110,000 5G base stations, with nearly 27 million 5G users, according to the latest statistics.

Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong, shared the figures at the World 5G Convention, which opened Thursday. The province has over 1,600 5G-related enterprises, accounting for about one-third of the national total.

Huawei and ZTE, which are both based in the province, have more than 5,000 5G essential patents, accounting for around one-third of the global total.

He added that Guangdong has an advantage in developing 5G, as the output value of communication networks and base station equipment in the province accounts for about 70 percent of the countrys total, while its smartphone shipments make up about 30 percent of the global total.