XINHUA

Workers pack up Bing Dwen Dwens at a licensed manufacturer in Qidong, Jiangsu Province on February 8. The mascot for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 has recently become a smash hit. Licensed manufacturers have increased production of the merchandise to ensure adequate supply.

THIS WEEK SOCIETY

XINHUA

Migrant workers are seen on a special train at Zunyi Station in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on February 8.The special train, free of charge for migrant workers returning to work in larger cities, left Zunyi Station for Guangzhou and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province. It is the first such train for returning workers from Guizhou this year, with more than 600 migrant workers boarding.

China will continue to advance the opening up of its highlevel education, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in its key tasks for 2022 released on February 8.

Efforts will be made to step up cooperation with other countries in the sector, such as advancing the high-quality development of the Education Action Plan for the Belt and Road Initiative and stepping up cooperation with ASEAN countries in vocational education and mutual recognition of academic qualifications, according to the ministry.

The country will also deepen reform of the system and the mechanism for sending government-funded students to study abroad, develop internationally competitive education for overseas students, and tighten regulations for the employment and management of foreign teachers, said the MOE.

The ministry will support quality basic education resources on the mainland to run schools in Hong Kong, explore the integrated development of education across the Taiwan Straits,and consolidate the platform for educational exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong,Macao, and Taiwan.

Efforts will also be made to promote the construction of pilot overseas Chinese schools and deepen cooperation with international organizations such as UNESCO.

China handed the ratification paper of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind,Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled to the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) on February 5.

The Marrakesh Treaty, the first and only human rights treaty with copyright so far, is scheduled to come into force in China three months from now and is expected to guarantee print-disabled people’s equal access to culture and education.

China will provide practical support to print-disabled people per the treaty and continue to strengthen cooperation with the WIPO, Zhang Jianchun, vice head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in talks with WIPO Director General Daren Tang via video link on February 5.

China will also further participate in the global administration of intellectual property under the WIPO framework, Zhang said.

The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted by the WIPO on June 27, 2013, aiming to dissolve copyright-related obstacles for print-disabled people to obtain works, and entered into force on September 30, 2016. It now has 84 contracting parties.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,China’s top legislature, adopted a decision on ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty in October 2021.

China’s culture industry logged a steady recovery in 2021, with new business forms registering rapid expansion,data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows,Xinhua News Agency reported on February 6.

The combined operating revenue of major firms in the sector topped 11.9 trillion yuan($1.87 trillion) last year, up 16 percent year on year and marking a two-year average growth of 8.9 percent, according to an NBS survey covering 65,000 companies.

China’s culture industry reported a solid recovery in 2021,said NBS senior statistician Zhang Peng. Zhang noted that 41 out of 43 industry subsectors reported year-on-year expansion in operating revenue.

Total operating revenue of the 16 subcategories closely related to new business forms, such as animation, games, and digital publishing, climbed 18.9 percent year on year. It accounted for 33.3 percent of total revenue of the culture industry.

Zhang expected further expansion of China’s culture industry in 2022, highlighting the supply of higher quality products and the dynamic consumption market.

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has issued a plan to build a belt region for the integrated development of sports,cultural and tourist industries in Beijing and Zhangjiakou,the co-host city of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Xinhua reported on February 3.

The plan aims to leverage the Winter Olympic venues built in the region in a comprehensive and low-carbon way after the Olympic Games.

In the region, a series of global winter sports events and competitions will be held, toptier sports universities will be built and the charm of Chinese culture will be presented to the world through a host of cultural resorts, parks and brands.

The plan specifies efforts to promote and popularize winter sports among the general public, increase the venues’public accessibility and improve their services, and facilitate the wider spread of Winter Olympics culture.

A Chinese quartet stormed to a thrilling victory in the mixed 2,000m relay at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 5, clinching China’s first-ever gold in the event. The feat can be partly attributed to aviation technologies.

A research team led by Ke Peng, an associate professor at Beihang University in Beijing who once studied air vehicles, has applied the knowhow of aircraft engineering into winter sports training.

The endeavor can be traced back to a chilly morning when Ke went to a skating rink in suburban Beijing. There, Ke’s team collected data via multiple sensors based on the athletes’movements, muscle strength and details involving the skate blades.

Later it occurred to Ke that the route planning algorithms used for aircraft could also be used to help design optimal glide routes for skaters.

Ke pondered over some critical questions such as whether or not skaters should slow down before they turn and whether they should turn in a small circle or a large one, concluding that the model can offer the answers.

The model is tailored to individual skaters. Inputting their heights, gliding postures,muscle energy consumption,angles of arm swings and leg kicks into the model can produce the optimal plan for energy distribution.

“Thanks to the scientific training approach, a typical speed skating race saw a 10-percent increase in speed,” Ke said.

XINHUA

Visitors appreciate plum blossoms at a park in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, on February 9

XINHUA

People looking for new opportunities visit a job fair in Neijiang,Sichuan Province, on February 9. Various such fairs have taken place after the Spring Festival holiday to help people get a leg up in the new year.

THIS WEEK ECONOMY

The State Council has approved setting up more cross-border ecommerce pilot zones in 27 cities and regions as the government seeks to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment in flows.

The new zones will replicate and advance the experience learned from the previous ones, according to a statement released by the State Council.

Since 2015, China has established 105 cross-border ecommerce pilot zones in five batches. The new business model has become a vibrant force driving China’s foreign trade growth.

The authorities plan to improve standardization in a wide range of areas, including supervision, risk prevention, financial technology,green finance and digital currency, with the goal of basically establishing a financial standard system that fits modern finance in 2025, according to a plan to advance standardization of the financial sector over the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

The document was jointly published by the People’s Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The country will improve the monitoring and early warning of financial risks, especially in Internet finance. Efforts will be made to guide the use of technologies, including cloud computing,big data and artificial intelligence.The utilization of financial data will be under better management to ensure the protection of public security, business secret and personal privacy.

The Chinese Government published 137 national and industrial standards in the financial sector between 2016 and 2020 and the standardization played an increasingly important role in serving the real economy, warding off risks and deepening reforms.

There were 1.43 million 5G base stations nationwide as of late 2021, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

The figure accounted for over 60 percent of the global total, with 10.1 5G base stations serving every 10,000 people in China, nearly doubling from the end of 2020, the ministry said.

Last year, the country’s 5G-related investment reached 184.9 billion yuan ($29 billion),a share of 45.6 percent in fixed assets investment of the telecommunication industry, up 8.9 percentage points from that of a year ago.

China expects to see the number of 5G users exceed 560 million by 2023, and every 10,000 people in China will have more than 18 5G base stations at that time, according to a guideline released last year.

Hualong One, a China-designed third-generation nuclear reactor,has been confirmed adequate for use in Britain, the designer,China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN), said on February 8.

The reactor has met the standard of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA), according to a joint statement issued by the British Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA).

Before being put into use, the new technology must pass the assessment led by the ONR and the EA to determine its safety and environmental impact.

ONR has issued a Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC)and EA has issued a Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA) to Hualong One.

The CGN and French state-owned power giant EDF signed deals with the British Government in 2016 on building three projects in Britain. The project based in Bradwell, Essex,is expected to use the Hualong One technology.

The banking sector disposed of 3.13 trillion yuan ($492.4 billion)worth of non-performing assets in 2021, effectively reducing credit risks, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The figure saw an increase of 110 billion yuan ($17.3 billion) from a year ago, a record high.

During the 2017-21 period,Chinese banks handled 11.9 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion) worth of non-performing assets, which surpassed the aggregate of 12 years prior to that period and served as a key backstop against systemic financial risks, the commission said.

Given the possibility of bad loans resurging amid COVID-19 strains and economic headwinds,the lenders should strengthen oversight of the quality of their assets, it added.

Chinese companies gained a greater market share in smartphone AMOLED display panel shipments in 2021 amid a rapidly growing global market, consulting firm CINNO Research said in a research note.

Led by BOE Technology Group, they seized a 20.2-percent share in the global market last year, up 3.7 percentage points from a year ago, according to it.

BOE’s shipments surged 67.2 percent from a year ago to 60 million units, accounting for 8.9 percent of the world’s total,ranking second globally. It was followed by Visionox Co. and Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai)Co., with a market share of 5.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

The global smartphone AMOLED screen market registered a robust increase last year despite challenges including a lingering chip shortage, with total shipments at 668 million units,up 36.3 percent.

Manufacturers from the Republic of Korea controlled nearly 80 percent of the market,the report said. The shipments of Samsung Display alone represented a share of 72.3 percent,down 4.2 percentage points from a year ago.

China ranked second globally as home to 171 gazelle companies,or startups with high growth potential, according to the Hurun Global Gazelle Index list for 2021.

All entrants were founded in the 2000s, worth over $500 million and not yet listed on a public exchange. They are also most likely to become unicorns—firms valued over $1 billion—within three years.

Globally, a total of 525 companies were on the list,released by Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute.

The U.S. topped the list with 201 gazelles in total.

China’s exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled$1.99 trillion in 2021, as strong demand fueled growth, according to Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce.

The volume, representing a year-on-year growth of 29.1 percent, accounted for 59 percent of China’s total exports during the period, he said.

The expansion marked the quickest pace in 11 years.

Noting multiple uncertainties facing exports of mechanical and electrical products, Gao pledged further measures to improve the level of trade facilitation, help enterprises diversify their markets, and ensure the stability of the foreign trade industrial chain and supply chain.

THIS WEEK WORLD

XINHUA

Members of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire a gun salute, to mark the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne, at Green Park in London on February 7

XINHUA

Military personnel take part in a parade during the Independence Day celebrations in Colombo on February 4

XINHUA

President Sergio Mattarella (center)greets parliament members in Rome on February 3, as he inaugurated his second seven-year mandate after being reelected on January 29

XINHUA

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks about the European Chips Act at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on February 8.The EU outlined a 15-billion-euro ($17-billion) plan to boost its semiconductor industry that day

XINHUA

A boy holds up a Chinese New Year’s decoration while visiting a pavilion for translated Chinese books at the 53rd Cairo International Book Fair in Cairo on February 4. The event ran from January 26 to February 7

XINHUA

The 35th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,on February 5. At the meeting,African leaders met physically for the first time since the outbreak of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

THIS WEEK PEOPLE & POINTS

, head coach of the Chinese women’s soccer team, led the team to beat the Republic of Korea (ROK) 3:2 from two goals down in the final of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Navi Mumbai, India, on February 6, landing its record-extending ninth title since the last championship in 2006.

Despite being two goals behind the ROK in the first half, the Chinese women’s national football team scored three in the second half—with two goals in just five minutes.

The Asian Cup was Shui’s first international competition after assuming the position in 2021. The 56-year-old won five Asian Cup titles as a player, from 1986 to 1997. After retiring as a midfielder in 2001, she coached the national women’s soccer youth team and the Shanghai women’s soccer team.

Homegrown Chinese brands have been on the rise in the past few years. Different from before, Chinese goods today are catching up with, or even outperforming,foreign commodities in many aspects.

Domestic products like mobile phones and other communication devices are becoming top choices for a surging number of Chinese consumers. Made-in-China sportswear, for example, is winning people over thanks to the application of new materials and Chinese-style designs. Chinese companies keep increasing investments in research and development, from abovementioned consumer goods to 5G and high-speed railways.

The injecting of cultural elements into products is also boosting people’s interest in domestic goods. Based on the application and innovation of Chinese traditional culture, these products are not simply consumer goods, but are also part of the national culture. Popular products based on the Palace Museum’s unique setting are typical examples.

How long the public’s enthusiasm for homemade products will last, depends on how well businesses do in terms of cultural elements, innovation, quality and marketing.

In China’s southwest heartlands, Chengdu,capital city of Sichuan Province, and Chongqing, a municipality which used to be part of Sichuan, form a crucial juncture in the Yangtze River economic belt. A cluster combining population, cities and industrial zones, this region enjoys a strategic position in China’s modernization drive and all-round opening up.

In the past two years, efforts to build up a two-city economic circle between Chongqing and Chengdu have gained steam. The two cities have joined hands in constructing modern infrastructures and upgrading manufacturing sectors, digital industries, financial and logistical hubs to bolster their international competitiveness.In 2021 alone, their cooperation entered 67 major projects.

They have also jointly built up a comprehensive science center, fortifying the overall science and technology level in southwest China, with 40 major scitech programs between them already kicking off.

The China-Europe Railway Express,the Yangtze River waterway and a newly-built free trade zone have all intensified the region’s interaction with other parts of the country and also improved the environment for businesses from around the world.

The two cities also work side by side in improving local ecological environment, pushing forward green and clean ways of life, upgrading public services and providing access to shared education, culture and healthcare resources.

Their coordination in the southwest will surely drive high-quality economic growth and overall development across the region and beyond.

For various reasons, some people had to stay on post during the Spring Festival holiday from January 31 to February 6.Now that the holiday is over, they are eager to receive their overtime pay,as stipulated by the labor law, which demands they receive triple the usual amount for the first three days and double for the rest of the holiday.

However, reality holds that a lot of people do not get paid for their holiday work hours, mostly those working in factories and the hospitality sector.Employers can always find excuses to sidestep their lawful obligations. In most cases, these employees tend to give up their claims for fear of getting fired.

Employees should be encouraged to safeguard their legitimate rights through legal means, but, more importantly, the relevant watchdogs must take action in the first place to ensure employers abide by the labor law and impose sanctions if they fail to do so. By no means should holiday overtime pay become a lip service.

On February 2, Jackson Yee (Yi Yangqianxi), 21, became the youngest star to make China’s highest-grossing actor list. Yee, a member of Chinese boyband TFBoys, is the first actor born in the 2000s to rake in 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion)at the box office, with the release of his latest works,and.

Yee starred in his first film, a youth drama about school bullying released in 2019, which made the list of nominations for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. It grossed more than 1.58 billion yuan ($248 million).

In 2020, the actor, dancer and singer became the youngest celeb ever to top theChina Celebrity 100 List.

“Democracy is a common value of mankind, not the monopoly of a few countries. It’s up to the people of a country to decide whether this country is democratic or not.”

Zhao Lijian, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, at a daily news conference on February 9

“…unilateral sanctions [imposed by certain countries], often in the glorified name of implementing council sanctions, have caused great disasters and chaos, not only putting the UN on the receiving end of the blame when it shouldn’t be, but also undermining the authority and effectiveness of the council sanctions themselves.”

Zhang Jun, China’s Permanent Representative to the UN,at a Security Council debate on February 7

“Vaccine inequity is the biggest moral failure of our times—and people are paying the price.”

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres addressing the virtual launch of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator advocacy campaign for 2022 in New York on February 9

“To save present and future generations from the scourge of poverty and hunger,the international community should build a global architecture based on the developmental needs of people—a global system in which no one is left behind.”

Munir Akram, Chair of the Group of 77, at the 60th Session of the Commission on Social Development on February 8