With 18 golds, China was sitting on top of the Olympic gold medal table as of Sunday evening, followed by the US and host France, with many being claimed by Gen-Z athletes in fields outside China's traditional strengths. China also bagged 15 silvers and 9 bronzes so far.

Through the young generation's performance across the arenas, their interactions with other athletes and the audiences, and their voices in the media, the world can see a vibrant, confident, fashionable, friendly, brave and outspoken China, analysts said.

Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday that China has maintained its dominance in some traditional strengths such as diving, table tennis, badminton and shooting, but more importantly, Chinese athletes have achieved groundbreaking successes in swimming and tennis. 

The overall performances of the Chinese swimming team have served as a riposte to the skepticism and disregard that clouded the Chinese delegation. 

Gold medalist Pan Zhanle's world record breaking feat in the 100m freestyle swimming is as historic as hurdler Liu Xiang's victory in the 110m hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, as "both triumphed in sports that European and American athletes had dominated for a long time," Liu Yu said. 

Pan, 19, broke his own world record to clinch gold on July 31, marking the first time a Chinese athlete has won gold in the men's 100m freestyle at an Olympic Games. 

"Given the abnormal frequency of doping tests and speculation from foreign media, the Chinese swimming team's performances are all the more remarkable," Liu Yu said. 

Another history maker is 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen who on Saturday became the first Asia-born player to claim gold in a tennis singles event at the Olympics, when she beat her opponent Croatia's Donna Vekic in straight sets. 

"Athletes like Pan and Zheng have become the national pride and they are sure to inspire younger generations in the years ahead," Liu Yu noted. 

Gen-Z athletes have also made their marks in the global sporting showpiece through their unique demeanor and relaxed attitude, which have captured the attention and admiration of spectators worldwide.

Chinese shooters Huang Yu-ting and Sheng Lihao, who clinched China's first gold in Paris 2024 in the 10m air rifle mixed team event, gained widespread attention for their interesting internet names and their composure in intense competition on Chinese social media. 

The attitude and demeanor of Gen-Z athletes have shifted people's focus from tallying gold medals to embracing the excitement of sports and the true spirit of the Olympics, Liu Yu said. 

The average age of the Chinese sports delegation to the Paris Games is 25. Eleven-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest member of the Chinese delegation, is one of the Gen-Z athletes aiming for medals in emerging Olympic sports. Many of her peers are striving in sports such as breakdancing, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. 

Outspoken, brave and friendly

The performance of Chinese athletes in "Western-dominated" sports like swimming and tennis has become a loud response to biased comments, disrespectful actions and even groundless accusations with racist opinions from some people and media in the West. 

Swimmer Pan revealed to media the disrespectful behaviors he felt from Australian and US swimmers in a relay event, and responded with his clean record and gold medal. 

When some Western media continue the doping smears, Zhang Yufei, a female swimmer and bronze medalist in Paris, rebuffed the skepticism over Pan's new world record at a press conference on Thursday with confidence. 

 Zhang lays bare Western double standards by asking "Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they achieve fast times, yet no one doubted Michael Phelps when he won seven or eight gold medals? Similarly, Katie Ledecky has dominated long-distance swimming from 2012 to 2024, winning gold in every event, yet no one questioned her performances?" 

Li Xiang, a sports commentator and Olympics reporter, told the Global Times on Sunday that these Chinese athletes have shown that China's Gen-Zers will not tolerate or keep silent to the provocations, and they will fight back directly. More importantly, they are capable of responding to groundless, biased and even racist accusations with their strengths and performance in the arenas. 

They can represent China's image in the new era to the world. They are outspoken with an attitude, interact with their peer athletes and spectators positively and serve as "envoys of people-to-people exchanges," Li noted. 

After Chinese pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha claimed gold for table tennis mixed doubles on July 30, they asked North Korean silver medalists Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong and South Korean bronze medalists Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon to pose for a group selfie.

It was a perfect portrayal of sports' capacity to unite, as the athletes' smiles illuminated the sentiment that triumphs and titles, though important, are not the only takeaways, said a comment published on August 2 by the Xinhua News Agency.

Some Western media have always been trying to depict China as a rigid authoritarian country with no freedom and fun, and that Chinese people are not cool at all, but Chinese Gen-Z athletes tell the opposite story in Paris, breaking bias and lies circulating in the West.

"They are the best symbols of China's soft power today," Li noted.

As China's contribution to the world's largest intergovernmental international radio telescope project Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), the first batch of the China-built middle-frequency antenna dishes of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope set off for South Africa on Wednesday. 

The antenna dishes to be installed in Karoo, the remote desert region in South Africa, are expected to help detect signals from the most distant parts of the universe, marking a significant step of China in participating in the international mega-science project. 

The first four antenna dishes, officially abbreviated as SKA-Mid, have passed the factory acceptance test in quality in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, and will be transported by heavy-lift trucks to a port in North China's Tianjin Municipality, where they will be shipped to South Africa. 

The SKA is an ambitious scientific endeavor which is jointly funded, built and run by more than 10 countries including China, the UK, Australia and South Africa, with more than 100 organizations from 18 different countries participating in the development of the telescope. It will feature much higher sensitivity and survey speeds than any other radio instrument array developed so far. 

The SKA is a collection of various types of antennas, called an array, and the middle-frequency dish is the core facility of the middle-frequency array in the SKA radio telescope.

China is responsible for the research and development of the SKA-Mid dishes as well as the mass production for the instruments. The first batch of the 64 SKA-Mid dishes will be expected to be installed by the end of 2026, marking China's contribution in human's exploration into the universe. 

Another major section of the SKA project, the low-frequency antennas, or SKA-Low, will be located in the remote Murchison area in Western Australia.

Hundreds of thousands of SKA antennas will be built in multiple sites including South Africa, and its eight African partner countries, including Botswana, Ghana and Kenya, as well as in Australia. 

When the project is completed, it is spread over long distances with up to one square kilometer in total collecting surface area, the equivalent of 140 soccer fields. 

The SKA radio telescope carries the mission of helping humanity understand the mysteries of the universe and life, and is dedicated to exploring fundamental questions such as exploring the origin and evolution of the universe and galaxies, discovering more galaxies, searching for new cradles of life, and seeking extraterrestrial life. 

Two chefs from a restaurant in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu Province, were sentenced to two years and one year and six months in prison, respectively, with probation, and were fined 160,000 yuan ($22,000) altogether for the production and sale of toxic and harmful food. They were found to have put prescription antidiarrheal medicine in diners’ dishes to avoid mass food-poisoning incident. 

Gentamicin sulfate, a kind of antibiotic and prescription medicine used for treating diarrhea, had been illegally put by the restaurant’s head chef surnamed Sha and the cook surnamed Fu into a total of 1,612 helpings of stewed dishes, with the total sales revenue of 77,376 yuan, since 2023. According to China’s Food Safety Law, medicines shall not be added to food products during production and sales, the Nanjing-based Modern Express reported. 

Despite that gentamicin used to be a commonly used medicine for the treatment of dysentery and diarrhea, it also has a side effect of causing childhood deafness. 

In September 2023, a staffer from the restaurant reported to the local government hotline that gentamicin injection was added as a food additive to the dishes at the restaurant. In a following raid, law enforcement personnel found four used boxes of gentamicin sulfate injection in the kitchen trash can and another 101 boxes of the antidiarrheal medicine yet to be used at the office of the head chef. 

Tests on the dish samples collected from the restaurant and the unopened injection showed evidence of gentamicin. 

The sentence was announced on April 23, 2024, and the two chefs have also made a public apology in media. 

Law enforcement personnel also found that all the gentamicin sulfate injection was purchased from the same store of a chain pharmacy. A restaurant staffer surnamed Zhang bought the medicine without prescription. 

Meanwhile, it violated the national regulations on drug management for the pharmacy to sell the prescription drugs without a prescription. 

Through investigation, the local procuratorial authorities also found that multiple stores of the chain pharmacy had been illegally selling gentamicin sulfate injection for a long time. 

On January 31, 2024, the local procuratorial authorities issued an advice to the local market supervision department and urged the market watchdog to punish the violations and carry out thorough investigations of illegally adding food additives and conduct special rectification on medicine retails. 

Finally, the restaurant was fined 1.18 million yuan and its business license was revoked by the market supervision department. The two chefs and two restaurant managers were banned from working in the food production businesses or catering services for life or in the next five years. Both the restaurant and the four people were listed on the dishonest list. 

Besides, the local market watchdog has inspected 335 catering service providers and 508 medicine retailor companies, and has ordered 120 pharmacies to conduct rectification. 

Pakistan's newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar is visiting Beijing this week. He has a busy schedule of meetings with officials and business leaders in a bid to attract Chinese investment and further improve bilateral relations between China and Pakistan.   

From Monday to Thursday, at the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Dar is paying an official visit to China. On Wednesday, Wang and Dar held the fifth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue.

Wang told the media after the strategic dialogue on Wednesday that following his assumption of office as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Dar chose China as the first country to visit officially, this highlighted Pakistan's special emphasis on China-Pakistani relations. 

Wang mentioned that he had engaged in in-depth strategic communication with Dar on bilateral relations, cooperation in various fields, and international regional issues of common concern, leading to a broad consensus. 

"We both agree that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, and the ironclad friendship between our two countries has stood the test of time, remaining as solid as a rock and as heavy as Mount Tai," Wang said. "In a world of turmoil and change, a healthy, stable, and strong China-Pakistan relationship is of great significance for regional peace and prosperity," he noted.

According to Pakistani state media, during his visit to China, Dar also invited Chinese companies to invest, set up their manufacturing and process units in Pakistan and benefit from the government's investor-friendly policies. 

Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's Federal Minister of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, also visited China last week as part of the high-level interactions between China and Pakistan.

Analysts pointed out that the visits of high-level officials from Pakistan since Pakistan's new government came to power showed the country's willingness to further develop cooperation with China under the framework of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), especially in the high-quality development of the CPEC, a flagship project of the BRI.

Launched in 2013, the CPEC is a corridor linking the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation. 

According to materials sent to the Global Times by the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing, during the visit, Dar had a tight schedule as he is busy with meeting both government officials and business communities in Beijing during the four-day trip. 

During his visit, he has emphasized opportunities for collaboration in various sectors, including infrastructure, renewable energy, textiles, agriculture, IT, and mining.

He has reaffirmed Pakistan's firm support to China on its core issues and expressed the country's willingness to accelerate progress on all CPEC projects including ML-I upgradation, the Gwadar port, and KKH realignment. 

"The first decade of the CPEC has laid important ground for fast-tracking development," Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil-ur-Rahman Hashmi told the Global Times in a previous interview. 

"Over 73 years, the Pakistan-China relationship has become very solid and assumed unique characteristics in terms of inter-state relations. Ours is a relationship that is not affected by internal developments in either country or regional and international events. That is why we refer to it as an ironclad relationship that has stood the test of time," he said in the interview. 

The 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, or Beijing Auto Show 2024, put down its curtain on Saturday after a 10-day-long run across a vast exhibition area of 22,000 square meters, attracting more than 892,000 visitors to the event, including 28,000 international attendees from all over the world.

The auto show witnessed 117 new vehicles making their debuts, with global premieres of up to 30 car models from international brands, which is a manifestation of the growing importance of Chinese customers and the country's huge market.

Chinese auto brands are evolving rapidly and they make many traditional car brands look old and lose market share, indicative of the brighter future of Chinese automotive industry, a visitor from the UK attending the event told the Global Times. 

From its humble beginning in 1990 with merely 20,000 square meters of exhibition space, the Beijing Auto Show has grown exponentially in the past three decades. Its 18th version this year witnessed China's remarkable journey in auto exploration and development, as verified by the nation's leadership in new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturing and its growing market competitiveness in the world.

NEVs in spotlight

During this year's show, the spotlight was undoubtedly on NEVs, which accounted for more than 80 percent of the 117 new vehicle models debuted at the event. In total, 278 models of both NEVs or with internal combustion engines were put on display, marking a 74 percent increase from the previous auto show. 

Notably, as many as 20 new NEV brands made their first appearance there, showcasing the latest development trend in the sector.

This year's Beijing Auto Show demonstrates that NEVs are the future of China's automotive industry. Chinese brands have made significant strides in manufacturing of batteries and electric vehicle technology innovation and development, setting a solid foundation for the country's edge in the mid-to-high-end electric vehicle market, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), told the Global Times in an interview on Sunday.

In addition to automakers, numerous companies in the NEV supply chain participated in the gala event. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL), the world's leading battery manufacturer and technology provider revealed the company's latest Shenxing PLUS battery, which is the world's first LFP battery that enables 1,000-km range ride per charge. Along with innovative products like millimeter-wave radar from Cheng-Tech, and high-voltage water heater from Jiangsu Chaoli Co, Chinese companies showcased their latest development at the auto show, leading the global development of NEVs.

"We use batteries from CATL factory in Germany," said Porsche CEO Oliver Blume at the auto show, emphasizing the luxury carmaker's commitment to the Chinese market. During the show, Porsche unveiled its latest Taycan 4 model tailored specifically for the Chinese market, along with its first all-electric SUV model, the Macan.

The rapid development of China's new energy vehicle industry is reflected in its increasing sales volume and global market penetration. In March, Chinese NEV retail sales reached 709,000 units, up 29.5 percent year-on-year, pushing China's share in the global NEV market to 62.5 percent, according to official data.

Smart tech on display 

Smarter automotive technologies on display form a key highlight of the Beijing Auto Show 2024, spanning from artificial intelligence (AI) to autonomous driving. 

During the auto show, China's leading technology company Tencent unveiled its "global intelligence" solution for the auto industry, covering various core scenarios such as R&D, production, marketing, services, and corporate collaboration. The company also announced plans related to smart vehicle-use clouds and cockpits, offering autonomous driving cloud services to leading carmakers in the sector.

"We are actively exploring all innovative uses and applications of our cutting-edge technologies, such as AI solutions in various use scenarios," said Tang Daosheng, a senior executive vice president of Tencent.

Increasingly smarter solutions have become a critical component of AI evolution in China, noted He Xiaopeng, chairman of XPeng Motors, one of China's major electric vehicle brands. At the auto show, XPeng announced the incorporation of AI systems in its new models, enabling customized AI travel and enhanced safety features.

Applying AI technology in automobiles will facilitate the rapid advancement to Level 3 autonomous driving, enhancing the driving experience and ramping up ride safety, Jia Xinguang, a veteran auto industry observer, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In addition to automakers and related companies in the auto industry chain, Tmall Auto made its debut to the event as an auto industry platform exhibitor, aiming to stimulate online marketing and transaction for various customized auto brands, and facilitate both new and used vehicle sales, aided with Alibaba Group's advanced platforms and software solutions.

Huge market for clean cars

The introduction of numerous new car models at the Beijing Auto Show reflected the future trend of increasingly diversified and upgraded consumption in the Chinese market, said Cui from the China Passenger Car Association.

With the government's launch of an action plan to promote a nationwide large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in for big consumer goods, coupled with policies from various departments including the Ministry of Commerce that provides incentives for ordinary consumers replacing outdated vehicles with clean, renewable energy powered vehicles, China's auto consumption market is expected to witness further growth in the coming five to 10 years, Cui said.

China's NEV market has experienced remarkable growth rates in the past several years, and with the government's new trade-in policy, it is widely anticipated that stronger consumer enthusiasm for buying cleaner new-energy vehicles will come. The trade-in policy could potentially bring 2 million additional NEV sales in 2024, Cui added.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China produced 6.606 million vehicles from January to March this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 6.4 percent. The country also saw 6.72 million vehicles sales in the first quarter of 2024, up 10.6 percent, indicating a flourishing trend of auto shipments.

In contrast, some international auto shows, such as the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung and Japan Mobility Show, are struggling to achieve breakthroughs due to global automakers' business restructuring and the shrinking consumer demand there. Nevertheless, the Beijing Auto Show is demonstrating unprecedented vitality, reflecting the bright future of China's automotive manufacturing and its huge market size, Jia Xinguang said. 

Editor's Note:

As China's new-energy industries rise to global prominence, US officials have started a smear campaign based on false "overcapacity" claims. The rise of China's new-energy industries is due to innovation, rather than subsidies, and is beneficial for the world, instead of posing threats to other countries. To illustrate this, the Global Times is publishing a multi-part series under the theme of "New Energy, New Opportunities." This story focuses on how the Chinese electric vehicles (EV) industry draws its competitiveness from competition, debunking the groundless narrative that the Chinese EV industry's strengths came from government subsidies.
While the US has kept hyping up "overcapacity" in China's new-energy vehicle (NEV) industry to smear the latter's technology edge in new energy production, many Chinese NEV companies are actively promoting globalization with an increasingly open attitude to provide high-quality and clean cars to global consumers, and moving to share development dividends with their global partners.

During recent years, a growing number of Chinese NEV makers and battery manufacturers such as BYD and CATL are investing in setting up plants overseas including the ASEAN, Europe, Middle East and South America. By extending their reach through overseas establishments and joint ventures, China's NEV sector has become a source of growth and catalyst for job creation globally, reinforcing the resilience of the global supply chain.

Industry analysts note that Chinese NEV companies aspire to seek win-win cooperation and mutual benefit in the process of their going global, and they attach importance to contributing to the economic and social development of the countries where they have businesses. With technological innovation and quality developed through competition in the global market, Chinese NEV makers continue to make greater contributions to global green transition and technological advance.

Rapid industry growth

Chinese NEV companies are flocking to Thailand after the pandemic came to an end and have played a vital part in the Thai government's strategy to boost up foreign investment as a way to speed up domestic economic growth, Xu Genluo, vice president of Thailand-based Amata Corp, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Reflecting China's NEV manufacturing advantages, at least 10 Chinese NEV brands have come to Thailand to invest during the past two years, Xu said. He said Chinese companies have brought along good posts in technical, sales and management for local Thais.

The arrival of Chinese EV companies has contributed to the realization of the Thai government's ambition to scale up the country's domestic industrial and value chain, restructure its industrial capacity, and fulfil its climate and emission control goals, Xu said, noting that the Thai government has awarded global companies, including Chinese NEV companies, with favorable policies.

As Thailand has a long automotive heritage and world-class manufacturing capability, Chinese leading NEV maker BYD has chosen the Southeast Asian country to build its first passenger car plant outside China. With BYD's advantages in whole industrial chain and its owning core technologies, the company would contribute to the popularity of NEVs in Thailand.

Chinese lithium-ion battery giant CATL announced a decision in 2022 to invest 7.34 billion euros ($7.9 billion) to build a 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen of east Hungary, its second battery plant in Europe.

Investment will generate substantial tax revenues, create new jobs, and become a new driver for local economy, CATL said. It said the project will attract both upstream and downstream partners across the electric vehicle value chain to Hungary, injecting vitality into the country's sustainable development.

In February this year, the company signed a cooperation agreement with a Vocational Training Center in the city in order to train prepared and highly motivated professionals.

As some Chinese NEV players have consolidated their lead in electric vehicle and battery technologies, more global auto giants are seeking cooperation with leading Chinese automakers to learn their know-how.

In February, German carmaker Volkswagen agreed to carry out a strategic technical collaboration project with Chinese automaker XPeng to develop two intelligent connected vehicle models.

Stellantis, a multinational auto company headquartered in Amsterdam, also announced in October 2023 a plan to invest 1.5 billion euros to acquire approximately 20 percent of China's EV start-up Leapmotor, underlining the competitiveness of China's EV manufacturing.

"Overcapacity should indicate an imbalance between demand and supply, but it is often misused. If we look at the global demand for clean new energy, we actually have an under-capacity," Claudio Celani, economic editor of news magazine Executive Intelligence Review, told the Global Times in a recent interview.

In Africa, some of its 1.4 billion people currently lack access to a power grid. Most of them are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries which, even if they want to, have neither the financial nor physical means to satisfy that demand. It is obvious that the technology must be brought in from countries like China and other industrial nations, Celani said.

Celani attributed China's competitive advantage in NEV and other industrial products to two main factors, namely technological progress and economy of scale.

Globally competitive

"Across the world, only China has mastered core NEV technologies. The entry of Chinese NEV makers to overseas markets will not only drive investment and create jobs but also help these countries rapidly build up their NEV production capacity and gain international competitiveness after a while," Zhang Xiang, director of the Digital Automotive International Cooperation Research Center of the World Digital Economy Forum, told the Global Times.

Compared with traditional automobile powerhouses, China's development of NEVs was relatively early and therefore has already achieved a degree of technological accumulation.

"As a result, China-made NEVs are internationally competitive with lower production costs and good performance, which make them popular in overseas markets," Zhang said.

The US' "overcapacity" narrative cannot impede the ongoing transformation and upgrade momentum of China's traditional industries, Zhang said, noting that China's new energy products will play an increasingly important role in driving the global low-carbon transition.

China's vehicle market got off to a good start in the first quarter of 2024, with production and sales both exceeding 6.6 million units, according to the latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The market share of NEVs remained above 30 percent in the first three months, official data showed.

Editor's Note:

In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, proposed promoting national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization - the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.

Advancing Chinese modernization is a systematic endeavor and also an exploratory undertaking. It is through this framework that we wish to illustrate the process of the Chinese path to modernization through a series of landmark projects, touching stories, and visionary plans.

Global Times reporters visited different key locations across China and detailed their observations in five stories that showcase the diverse aspects of Chinese modernization.

This installment delivers a "softer" and experiential story from an intimate angle gleaned from Global Times reporters joining the cast of a Chinese dance drama- "A Mere Touch of Green"- while on tour in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

At the back stage, we were able to talk to the show's performers and directors, witnessing the interpretation of classical scroll painting aesthetics through body language in real time. The dance serves as a case study of culture's unique role in boosting the country's modernization through sustaining people's spiritual lives.
Choreographed based on a Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) silk scroll paining A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, "A Mere Touch of Green - A Choregraphed Portrait of A Panorama of Mountains and Rivers" has been staged over 300 times since its debut in 2021.

From stages like the 2022 Spring Festival Gala to performances showcased on social media platforms like Sina Weibo, the show has also won over a large digital audience, with more than 180 million views when it was broadcasted lived on video sharing platform BiliBili, a favorite site for Gen-Z internet users.

Unlike many Western dramas that were designed to maximize expression with the aid of dazzling costumes, the Chinese art is low-key and rooted in the works of Wang Ximeng, a Song Dynasty artist's painting journey.

So why has this dance been so successful?

An observation of backstage activities provides a convincing answer. Some Chengdu audiences were seen dressed in traditional Chinese garments while taking photos on their 5G-enabled phones. The detail not only speaks to people's confidences in the Chinese culture, but also hints at the enduring preservation of time-honored cultural aspects along with China's rapid growth, with such growth seen as a reflection of what the show's director Han Zhen called the "country's spiritual outlook."

"The dance did not bring me back to the Song Dynasty. It is an epitome of the thousands of years of Chinese values that we all carry forward into the future," a netizen posted on Sina Weibo.

Compared to the visible highways and skyscrapers that give the country its robust infrastructural "body," the dance instills the beauty of Chinese culture in people, representing the "soul."

'A Mere Touch of Green'

The story of "A Mere Touch of Green" began in 2017 when Han Zhen and Zhou Liya, the show's two directors first saw the painting A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains in the Palace Museum. "We were stunned by how beautiful and special it was, especially its cyan greenish color," Han told the Global Times.

Seeing the painting in real life was however not the sole motivation behind the two's decision to make a modern adaptation of traditional art. They were among many Chinese cultural workers who started to look for inspirations in traditional culture in recent years.

"We saw value in Chinese culture, so we picked 10 of China's ancient paintings, and finally decided on this one," said Zhou.

By staying true to the painting's aesthetic value through its color profile of the "special green" and indigo blue, Han and Zhou created a "choreographed portrait" that involves Zhang Han, the lead male dancer who plays the "painter" Wang Ximeng. Meng Qingyang, the female lead dancer, dances along with 16 other performers to embody the "rivers and mountains" that came to life under the painter's brush.

Due to the dance's extreme xieyi nature - a Chinese aesthetic style that praises unconstrained expressions - Meng told the Global Times that she was confused when first landed the role until she was able to strike a balance between the "euphemism" and "expressiveness" in her performance.

"Our moves need to be a little reserved but still display Wang Ximeng's artistic passion," Meng noted.
Ancient painter Wang Ximeng is a mysterious figure. It was said that he created the masterpiece at just 18 years old, after which he disappeared. To depict this character, Zhang spent numerous nights alone in the rehearsal room attempting to capture the essence of the painter.

"Wang Ximeng is a complex character. You can see his resilience, loneliness, cultural devotion, innocence, as well as the patriotism in his heart," Zhang noted.

Despite the dance crew having spent a long time polishing the show's aesthetic details, both of the directors said that they did not just want it to "look beautiful." They hope the art can convey ancient Chinese cultural beliefs to today's audiences.

"In a Chinese art piece like this, we hope the audiences can see our cultural mindsets, ethical beliefs, and our approach to things," Zhou said.

Tradition and modernity in coordination

Aside from being the 2021's most eye-catching Chinese dance drama, the cultural influence of the "A Mere Touch of Green" has continued well into 2023. From March to November, a total of 120 performances were staged across the country with the latest show reaching audiences in China's Macao Special Administrative Region.

Xie Suhao, a dancer in the show, told the Global Times he has discovered a shift among audiences, from just focusing on the beauty of the dance to gradually gaining more interest in the literary story behind the art.

"Over the course of our tours, I happened to talk to fans and learned of their efforts in researching the ancient history that inspired the dance," Xie told the Global Times.

Zhang also said that the show was once expected to appeal to the young generation but has since gained an audience that transcends age. He said that he has seen senior citizens in their 80s and 90s also among the audience.

Cultural sociologist Chu Xin told the Global Times that taking the dance IP as an example, the Chinese cultural industry has gradually discovered a new "narrative system" to tell traditional stories catering to people's "modern habits of cultural consumption."

"Only the creative transformation of traditional culture can help us keep up with the country's modernization growth," the expert said.
Beautiful, kind, sincere

China's modernity has supported the continuation of country's traditions. The "Night Banquet in Palace of Tang Dynasty," also a dance performance, went viral after it debuted in 2022 due to its "digital innovation plus history' ingenuity."

The show inspired by the terracotta figures of the Tang Dynasty has realized its best presentation through the country's own 5G and augmented reality (AR) innovation to combine virtual scenes with a real stage. Such a maneuver brings audiences into a virtual museum replete with relics.

China's development has not only helped an art form to be better presented on stage, but also increased its visibility to overseas audiences.

Using the Macao tour of the "A Mere Touch of Green" crew as an example, director Han Zhen said that it was a "successful attempt" before the team can officially stage the show before Western audiences in the near future.

While the dance group is in the process of designing a stage to help Western audiences better understand the art, several of their performances in China have already been uploaded on YouTube, receiving positive feedback from international audiences.

"How can we not fall in love with a country that has such wonderful culture," posted by a netizen in Spanish on YouTube.

"In our art, we endeavor to show the image of China and Chinese people as beautiful, kind, and sincere," Zhou the director remarked.

Since the relationship between China and Australia is on the right track, we should not hesitate, deviate, or backtrack, and the development of the bilateral ties is not targeted at any third party, nor should it be influenced or interfered with by any third party, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra on Wednesday.

Wang held the seventh China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wong during the former's visit to Australia.

This is our sixth meeting, and each time we meet, mutual trust increases by one point, and the China-Australia relationship advances one step further, Wang told Wong.

The Chinese Foreign Minister said this is an important year that carries on the past and opens up the future. Building on the good momentum of bilateral relations so far, and both China and Australia should "work together to create the future" and, with a more proactive attitude, jointly build a more mature, stable, and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership.

Over the past 10 years, the ups and downs of China-Australia relations have left us with lessons to learn and experiences to cherish, namely mutual respect, seeking common ground, pursuing mutual benefit, and to uphold independence and autonomy, Wang said.

Wang said China has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace, and our policy toward Australia has been consistent. The development of China-Australia relations is not directed against any third party, nor should it be influenced or interfered with by any third party.

He noted that since China-Australia relations are on the right track, we should not hesitate, deviate, or backtrack. With a clear direction toward progress, we should strive to move forward steadily, well, and far. This is in the common interest of the two peoples and the general expectation of regional countries.

Wang also said that China is ready to work with Australia to prepare for high-level exchange between two countries and deepen cooperation on traditional field such as mineral, energy and agricultural products; also explore cooperation on new energy, digital economy, green development and coping with climate change.

He urged Australia to take concrete measures to uphold the principles of market economy and fair competition rules, and provide a fair, just, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises investing and operating in the country.

Wang elaborated with Wong on China's stance on issues related to island of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Xizang, and the South China Sea, emphasizing that there is no historical entanglement or fundamental conflict of interests between China and Australia, and that their common interests far outweigh their differences.

According to a handout related to the dialogue issued by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wong stated that Australia and China have close historical, trade, and cultural ties, and are comprehensive strategic partners. As countries in the same region, differences should not define the relationship between Australia and China.

She said that Australia is pleased to see significant progress in bilateral relations in recent years and is willing to further strengthen dialogue and communication with China on the basis of mutual respect, to manage differences, to leverage complementary advantages, and to deepen cooperation in economic, trade, and cultural fields.

Both sides agreed to resume and establish dialogues in various fields , promote more cooperation across foreign affairs, economic, trade, science and technology, education, and law enforcement departments of the two countries, and actively consider initiating a dialogue on maritime affairs. Both sides agreed to take further measures to facilitate the exchange of people between the two countries.

Editor's Note:
Amid all the chatter about China's economy, a recent meeting in Beijing cut through the noise. Envoys from different countries came together at the Ambassador Round Table Dialogue on "China's Economic Outlook" on Friday talking about China's economic outlook. They said China's economy is strong and full of promise, despite some Western media's slander. The timing of the roundtable just after Chinese policymakers outlined its economic plans at the two sessions. At the roundtable, the Global Times reporter (Yin Yeping) met with some of the envoys who shared their belief in China's potential and expressed their desire to work closely with China to capitalize on its vast market and burgeoning economy.

China's economy stands resilient and is full of promise, bolstered by the vast market potential of its 1.4 billion population and robust governmental policies supporting high-quality development, envoys told Global Times at the Ambassador Round Table Dialogue on "China's Economic Outlook" held in Beijing on Friday, defying slanders made by certain Western media regarding China's economic growth.

Envoys expressed their confidence in China's economy and their expectations for further tapping into the potential of China's market through closer cooperation.

They highlighted the robust economic and trade ties between their countries and China, suggesting how China's strong economy and its significant role as a major trading partner remain crucial for helping their own countries recover economically, especially amid uncertain global situation.

Confidence

China has made tremendous gains for the last four to five decades. "While every country has its challenges of this and that, but by and large, China's economy has been very successful," Khamis Mussa Omar, Ambassador of Tanzania to China, told the Global Times on Friday.

Omar said that he has reviewed China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and its aspirations. Drawing on the experiences of the past two decades, marked by double-digit growth, "I believe that China's target of around 5 percent growth for this year is highly achievable," Omar said.

China is Tanzania's number one trading partner, both in terms of imports and exports, and is also the African country's main source of foreign direct investment. The ambassador said that there's a lot of investment coming from China to Tanzania, and "this trend will definitely continue in the foreseeable future as we are relying on our very warm, friendly diplomatic relations for further economic development."

What the Chinese economy has been through is remarkable, and as the Chinese government has made the strategy to improve the economy, he is confident that Chinese economy will continue to grow well, the Nepalese Ambassador to China Bishnu Pukar Shrestha told the Global Times at the meeting.

"I think China is leveling in terms of not growing as fast as it used to be, but the growth is very healthy, and it will continue that way," Alfredo Ortuno Victory, Ambassador of Costa Rica to China, told the Global Times, noting that the target of around 5-percent growth rate is a lot, especially given the size of the country.

The ambassador also noted China's new quality productive forces, which place the main focus on innovation and technological self-reliance. Victory said that China has opt for the path of high-quality development as the country that has for many years no longer only producing low-tech products and has been doing well in the industry transition.

"The only way that you can meet the rising market's expectations is by adding value and technology," Victory said. The ambassador also noted that the numbers of patents that China owns are now more than any other countries in the world.

Unny Sankar Ravi Sankar, Minister of Economic Affairs of the Embassy of Malaysia in China, told the Global Times that in general, the global economy will slow down, but Chinese market is a bit unique because the government can better manage the economic performance.

"The Chinese market is a huge market. We have noticed that the Chinese leadership has taken the dual circulation approach and more focus will be given to consumption," the Malaysian official said.

Untapped potential

The optimism from the envoys does not come out of the blue. Statistics show that China's manufacturing industry accounts for over 28 percent of total global output, while the US is at about 16 percent. According to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, China's GDP posted a growth of 5.2 percent year-on-year in 2023, higher than the annual target of around 5 percent, which demonstrates the country's achievements in economic governance in the face of global uncertainty.

China's key economic goals were successfully achieved, with its contribution to global economic growth exceeding 30 percent, surpassing the total of the G7 countries.

Envoys said that there is still potential for greater economic growth and more economic activity, highlighting the increasingly important roles in some very important initiatives and cooperative partnerships including the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which just marked its 10th anniversary last year, and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which has proved to be a big boost for regional economic development.

As the Nepalese Ambassador to China said that "China-Nepal economic and trade relations have been good in the past but there is potential for further expansion, and this year is going to be a good year for elevating the relations to a new high."

"Costa Rica is a very export-oriented country, and China is our second trading partner, and we have high expectations on new products coming and going from our countries," Victory also said, expressing his anticipation for closer economic ties with the world second largest economy.

China's trade with India in the first two months of 2024 surged by 15.8 percent year-on-year, ranking the country as having one of the fastest growth rates among China's trading partners, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.

China's trade with India reached $23.2 billion during the period, with Chinese exports growing by 12.8 percent to reach $19.5 billion and China's imports from India rising by 34.7 percent to hit $3.7 billion.

The growth rate of trade with India was one of the fastest among China's trading partners during the two months.

In US dollar terms, China's trade with Vietnam soared by 21.6 percent for the period.

"The robustness of bilateral trade with China, despite a slew of trade restrictive measures imposed by the Indian government, reflects the resilience and complementarity of the two economies at the current stage," Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"It also demonstrated India's economic vitality as one of the fastest-growing emerging economies in recent years," Liu said.

Robust imports from China are mainly supported by the country's strong demand for intermediate goods such as active pharmaceutical ingredients, vital ingredients for its drug industry, and electronic components for its smart phone manufacturing industry, Liu noted.

In recent years, India has been trying to replace China as the world's manufacturing powerhouse but Liu noted that the trade figures showed that "India's ambition remains a vision rather than reality at the current stage."

India's soaring exports to China may be the result of exports relaxing measures for iron ore, which is a bulk exports item to China, according to Liu.

Despite New Delhi's trade restrictive measures and its relentless suppression of Chinese companies operating in India, the two-way trade between China and India exceeded $100 billion in recent consecutive years and kept rising annually, showing the resilience and potential of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, analysts noted.

China's trade with other BRICS countries remained robust during the period.

Trade with Russia grew by 9.3 percent year-on-year in US dollar terms while trade with Brazil grew by 33.3 percent. Trade with South Africa edged up by 1 percent.

China posted an overall foreign trade growth of 5.5 percent during the January-February period in US dollar terms.