BADGE OF HONOR

President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, poses for a group photo with August 1 Medal recipients Nie Haisheng (left), Qian Qihu (second right) and Du Fuguo (right) at an award ceremony in Beijing on July 27.

The medal is the highest honor awarded to individual members of the Chinese military.

This is the second time that the medal was conferred. The first group of 10 recipients was awarded in July 2017.

Culinary Delight

A competitor plates a dish during a cooking competition in Chongqing on July 22.

Youth Forum

The World Youth Development Forum, held in Beijing on July 21-23, discussed topics such as youth employment and entrepreneurship, climate change and green development,digital economy, as well as highquality education, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China.

Initiated by the All-China Youth Federation, the forum was attended online or offline by over 100 guests from China and abroad and nearly 2,000 youth representatives.Guests from international organizations, enterprises, and universities delivered speeches about concrete measures to support youth employment and entrepreneurship in different regions and fields.

Yu Jiadong, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, called for global cooperation in tackling problems of youth employment.

Scientific Expedition

Chinese scientists launched an expedition in the headwater regions of the Yangtze and Lancang rivers in Qinghai Province on July 24, to investigate the regions’ water resources and ecological environment.

The expedition will conduct scientific investigations into the water resources, river hydrology,water ecology, glaciers, soil erosion and permafrost of the regions, according to the Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute (CRSRI) of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission, which is leading the expedition.

Glacier investigation is one of the key missions of the expedition. Based on previous remote-sensing monitoring, the scientists will use technologies including ground-penetrating radar to measure glacier thickness and calculate ice volume, according to the CRSRI.This expedition will also focus on observing the carbon stock of wetlands in the headwaters of the Yangtze River.

As an important part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecosystem, the headwater regions of the Yangtze and Lancang rivers have a significant impact on maintaining the security of water resources,biodiversity protection and ecosystem security.It will further the understanding of the current state of the ecological environment in the headwater regions of the two rivers, and will provide basic data for research projects including the protection of the Yangtze River and the construction of Sanjiangyuan National Park, said CRSRI’s chief engineer Xu Ping.

Medical Reform

China’s medical reform in the past 10 years has significantly eased the financial burdens for patients, according to the National Health Commission.

At a press conference on July 22, the commission said that as the country’s medical and healthcare system reform proceeds, the percentage of personal expenditure within China’s total medical and healthcare expenditure has dropped from 34.3 percent in 2012 to 27.7 percent today.

The country has taken a number of measures to increase people’s access to quality and reasonably priced medical services. For instance, the central authorities have carried out several centralized bulk-buying programs for drugs and highvalue medical consumables.

The programs have successfully brought down medical costs for patients and have so far helped save approximately 300 billion yuan ($44.43 billion) in medical insurance costs and patient expenditure.

Improving Services

China will further facilitate village residents’ access to everyday services such as mail and telecom services, accelerate rural road construction, toilet renovation and sewage treatment, and improve rural living environment,according to a press conference by the Ministry of Civil Affairs(MCA) on July 26.

The MCA, together with other authorities and departments, has released a guideline on improving comprehensive services provided at the village level.

The guideline specifies efforts to advance the standardization of village clinics,and improve public health and basic medical care services; to further build the medical service system, employment and social insurance public service system;and to improve social service provision at the village level.

It also outlines efforts to optimize the management of public affairs and charity at the village level, and guide villagers and private entities to further develop the rural service industry that ranges from retail, catering, and hotels to hairdressing.

Homegrown Helicopter

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) granted certification to the Z15 helicopter,the country’s first homegrown,medium-sized helicopter model for civil use on July 26.

The latest move marked the successful completion of the development of the Z15, paving the way for the helicopter’s market entry, according to the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC).

The Z15, also known as the AC352, was developed by AVIC Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Co. Ltd.under a cooperation program between AVIC and Airbus Helicopters. It can carry up to 16 passengers with a 7.5-ton maximum take-off weight and a maximum range of 850 km.

The helicopter uses the WZ16 engine jointly developed by the Aero Engine Corp. of China and Safran Helicopter Engines.

“Based on the innovative development of China’s civil helicopter industry, the Z15 project highlights independent innovation and high-level international cooperation, and deep integration with the global aviation industry,” said Yin Shijun,the CAAC chief engineer.

Fewer Traffic Accidents

China saw a significant drop in the number of deadly traffic accidents in the past decade, the Ministry of Public Security said on July 25.The number of traffic accidents involving three or more deaths declined 59.3 percent from 2012, said Li Jiangping,head of the ministry’s traffic management bureau, at a press conference.

Alcohol-related traffic accidents with casualties have dropped by tens of thousands since China criminalized drunk driving in 2011, Li said, noting that the decline is significant,given that the total number of motor vehicles across China rose by 89 percent and that of drivers by 123 percent during the period.

Most people chose to use designated driver services after drinking, with the number of orders for such services hitting an annual average of 200 million,data from the ministry showed.

Bumper Harvest

Farmers harvest citron daylily, an edible flower, in Yunzhou District,Datong, Shanxi Province on July 27. The district has increased the planting area of the plant to increase farmers’ income.

A Digital Presentation

A staff member displays a smartphone application that provides a virtual tour of the Great Wall during the Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing on July 28. The conference, running from July 28 to 30, showcased the latest achievements in the digital economy.

Industrial Profits

Profits of major industrial firms rose 1 percent year on year in the first half of 2022, official data showed on July 27.

Industrial firms each with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.97 million) saw their combined profits exceeding 4.27 trillion yuan ($631.9 billion) during the period, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The combined revenues of those firms went up 9.1 percent from a year ago to 65.41 trillion yuan ($9.6 trillion), and 16 out of 41 industries saw growth in profits in the period.

In June alone, their profits went up 0.8 percent year on year, reversing declines in April and May, the data showed.

Manufacturing Progress

In the first half of the year, the value-added output of the manufacturing sector accounted for 28.8 percent of the country’s GDP, up 1.4 percentage points from 2021, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

Manufacturing investment climbed 10.4 percent year on year during the same period.

In the second quarter alone,manufacturing investment grew 7.4 percent, 3.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of fixed assets investment nationwide, according to the data.Hi-tech manufacturing,which saw its value-added output increase 9.6 percent year on year in the January-June period,was a major force pushing the manufacturing sector’s highquality development.

Land-Sea Trade Corridor

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor saw 379,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers transported by railsea transport freight trains in the first six months of the year,up 33.4 percent year on year,according to the China Railway Nanning Group Co. Ltd.

Launched in 2017, the trade and logistics passage was jointly built by western Chinese provincial-level regions and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).

With Chongqing as the transportation hub, the corridor uses ports in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s Beibu Gulf to reach ports in Singapore and other ASEAN countries and links China-Europe freight trains setting off from many western Chinese cities before heading to Central Asia, South Asia and Europe. It has expanded its reach to 319 ports in 107 countries and regions.

The trade volume between the Chinese regions and cities along the corridor and ASEAN rose from $58.9 billion in 2017 to $107.7 billion in 2021, official data showed.

New State Firm

China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. was inaugurated in Beijing on July 25, a major move by the country to guarantee the supply of important minerals by making good use of the domestic and international markets and resources.

With registered capital of 20 billion yuan ($2.97 billion),the wholly state-owned and centrally administered company will engage in the exploration of mineral resources, ore mining, import and export of minerals, as well as supply chain management services, investment activities and asset management services, according to business data platform Tianyancha.

PV Growth

The photovoltaic (PV) sector posted robust growth in the first half of the year with major links of the industrial chain registering year-on-year growth of over 45 percent.

The half-year output of polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules expanded 53.4 percent,45.5 percent, 46.6 percent and 54.1 percent year on year, respectively, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The country’s PV exports totaled roughly $25.9 billion during the January-June period,surging 113.1 percent over one year ago.

Expressway Network

China has made solid progress in building a national road network to improve interregional transport layout and increase traffic capacity, with its expressways linking about 95 percent of the population, official data showed.

At present, the expressway network covers 98.8 percent of cities with urban populations of over 200,000 and prefecturelevel administrative centers, and links approximately 88 percent of county-level regions, Wang Tai, an official with the Ministry of Transport, told a press conference on July 25.

National highways also largely cover administrative areas at and above the county level and border ports open all year round, Wang said.

As of the end of last year,China had built 117,000 km of national expressways and seen 257,700 km of national highways open to traffic.

The country aims to build national roads with a total length of about 461,000 km, consisting of 162,000 km of expressways and 299,000 km of highways,by 2035, according to a circular released earlier this year.

Services Trade

The volume of China’s crossborder trade in services has surpassed the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on July 22.The COVID-19 pandemic has weighed on China’s crossborder travel, but the recovery of other parts of the foreign trade in services was relatively fast, Wang Chunying, deputy director of the administration, said at a press conference.

The country’s cross-border services trade balance recovered to the 2019 level last year, and the figure climbed 26 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2022, Wang said.

Both the income and the expenditure of China’s trade in services have seen growing momentum this year, and the deficit has further narrowed, she said.

Cash-Pooling Program

China will expand cash-pooling services for multinational companies to integrate domestic and foreign currency management on a larger scale, the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on July 22.

Shanghai, Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces, and some other regions will be added to the pilot program to facilitate the use and management of crossborder capital.

New policies introduced include increasing pilot areas and companies, allowing multinationals to handle centralized receipts and payments of domestic and foreign currencies in China for their overseas subsidiaries, and further streamlining yuan-denominated cross-border receipts and payments for multinationals.

The program was first launched in Beijing and the southern economic powerhouse Shenzhen, Guangdong Province,in March 2021. Since then, crossborder capital managed by the program has amounted to nearly $50 billion.X

CUBA People celebrate the National Rebellion Day at a rally in Cienfuegos on July 26. On July 26, 1953, fgihters led by Fidel Castro attacked the Cuban army garrisons in the cities of Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo,paving the way for the eventual victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959

JORDAN A volunteer lights a torch at the opening ceremony of the Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts in Jerash on July 27. Founded in 1981, the annual event features shows performed by Jordanian and foreign artists

THE PHILIPPINES Emergency responders evacuate injured personnel after an earthquake in Abra Province on July 27. The 7-magnitude earthquake hit the nation’s largest and most populous island, Luzon,killing at least five people and injuring some 60 others

CROATIA Fireworks are seen during the inauguration ceremony of the Peljesac Bridge in Komarna on July 26. The China-built bridge connects the two sections of Croatia’s coastline for the frist time

UNITED STATES A medical worker administers a dose of monkeypox vaccine to a resident in Chicago on July 25. The United States had more than 3,500 confrimed monkeypox cases as of July 26

INDIA Droupadi Murmu is sworn in as the 15th president of India on July 25.Murmu is the frist tribal woman and youngest ever person to assume the country’s top constitutional post

VETERAN DIPLOMAT’S UN ROLE

UN Secretary General António Guterres appointed Li Junhua as the next under secretary general for economic and social affairs on July 26.

Li, who is currently ambassador of China to Italy and San Marino, will succeed Liu Zhenmin. Guterres expressed gratitude to Liu for his commitment and dedicated service to the world body in a statement issued by the secretary general’s office.

Born in 1962, Li began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1985. He has served in many capacities, including as the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar, and as director general of the MFA Department of International Organizations and Conferences.

He has a master’s degree in international public policy from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

Recent years have seen a lot of bookstores in residential communities across Beijing revamped and turned into trendy saloons, where readers can enjoy a cup of tea while they read. These saloons also host events such as book clubs and science lectures, enabling residents to attend more cultural activities near home and immerse themselves in the city’s intensely cultural atmosphere.

Beijing is a modern metropolis boasting numerous historical and cultural landmarks. History and culture are close at hand for residents. Community cultural centers created by renovating abandoned factories, cultural saloons converted from bookstores and art exhibitions have made their daily lives more colorful.

Communities, as the basic units of a city, can play a big role in satisfying residents’ recreational needs and in enriching the whole city’s cultural aura,thus increasing their sense of belonging.

“China’s defense building is aimed at upholding our sovereignty, security and development interests. It is legitimate,reasonable and beyond reproach.”

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry,at a press briefing on July 22

“Inflation has broadened in many economies, reflecting the impact of cost pressures from disrupted supply chains and historically tight labor markets.”

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, at a virtual press conference on July 26

A clean environment with blue skies,crystal-clear waters and green mountains is the common aspiration of the whole nation. Harmonious coexistence between humans and nature constitutes an important part of China’s development philosophy.

Introduced in 2015, the Central Government’s inspection of ecological and environmental protection efforts is ensuring officials who do not take environmental protection seriously are held accountable. Many important environmental problems related to rapid economic growth had remained unsolved until the introduction of Central Government oversight.

China is a big country in geographical size, and regions differ from each other in resources, environmental capacity and growth stages.Thus, it’s necessary for the central inspection team to adopt differentiated measures to address their issues.

Of the 287,000 pollutionrelated complaints that the Central Government has received, 285,000 cases have been solved or are in the process of being solved. In recent years, improvements to the environment have become easily perceptible by the public.

To protect the environment is to protect productivity. In this sense, a good environment is the guarantee for long-term high-quality growth.

As COVID-19 resurgences came under control, this summer, the 561-km-long Dushanzi-Kuqa Highway in Xinjiang,which connects several well-known scenic spots and has been labeled the most beautiful road in China, has again become a hotspot for tourists.

However, rubbish along the road has somewhat dampened others’ passion for visiting it. Particularly in parking lots and rest stops, plastic bags and bottles can be seen everywhere. Mostly, the garbage is left by self-driving travelers, who just throw rubbish wherever they like.

The influx of tourists to this region is helping the local economy, but it is also posing a serious environmental threat.Teams of cleaners are responsible for maintaining the road; however, its length and the amount of rubbish being left make it difficult for them to complete their task each day.

In order to reduce the problem, local tourism authorities should consider capping the number of tourists, increasing the number of trash and recycling receptacles along the route, and take more steps to remind tourists not to litter. In extreme cases, tourists should be added to a tourism blacklist for their transgressions.

NEW DISEASE CONTROL CHIEF

Shen Hongbing, an epidemiologist and oncologist, was named the new director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

Shen, 58, who was former president of Nanjing Medical University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, succeeded virologist George F. Gao, who had led the China CDC since 2017.

Shen is a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Engineering, which has nine academic divisions including medicine and health engineering.

The China CDC operates under the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, a vice ministerial-level government department set up in May last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic to better fend off threats of infectious diseases. Shen is also deputy head of the administration.

“Seeking absolute security by using one’s advantageous position can only lead to a greater security dilemma.”

Geng Shuang, China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at a UN Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East,on July 26

“The youth needs wisdom and courage drawn from the rich history and cultural heritage of these two nations, to continue to make relations healthier.”

Nishith Shah, founder and Principal of the India China Academy in Mumbai, at the China-India Youth Dialogue,on July 25