In 2023, a total of 15 giant pandas returned to China from overseas after expiry of loan agreements. Among these 15 pandas, four are currently residing at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and are in good condition, the Global Times learned during a recent visit.
On February 22, giant panda Yong Ming arrived in Chengdu from Japan with his twin daughters, Ying Bang and Tao Bang. On July 26, giant panda cub Yuan Meng, who was born in France, arrived in Chengdu and also joined the base, a staff member surnamed Liu at the research base told the Global Times.
Among all the returning pandas, Yong Ming is the oldest at 31 years old, which is about 100 years old in human terms. He is also the second oldest captive male giant panda in the world.
After arriving at the base, the pandas undergo quarantine and a period of isolation, said Liu. Once their condition stabilizes, they will be moved to open enclosures to meet the public.
During the visit, the Global Times reporter saw these pandas eating bamboo and enjoying their time at the base. All of them appeared to be in good physical and mental health, which was confirmed by the base's staff.
At the base, each panda has an outdoor activity area ranging from 500 to 800 square meters in size, which ensures that they have ample space to move around, Liu said. They also each have an "indoor apartment."
Since the return of the panda cub Xiang Xiang in February, a total of 15 pandas have returned to China in 2023 from countries including the US, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and the UK. In 2024, several more pandas are expected to return to China after their loan agreements expire.
These pandas, who have lived abroad for a long time, have also become favorites among Chinese tourists after returning to China. The Global Times has learned that many make special trips to the breeding base to visit these national treasures.
On the same visit, representatives from Pakistani media and think tanks expressed admiration for China's panda conservation efforts and shared their expectations for cooperation between China and Pakistan in this field.
"In the past, pandas were a globally endangered species, but China has taken special measures to protect them. Here, all the pandas receive excellent care," said Faiyan Zia Bangash, a senior reporter from Pakistan's The News.
"I have always had a special love for pandas, but it wasn't until today when I saw them with my own eyes that I truly experienced their cuteness," said Fahd Gauhar Malik, editor of the Pakistan Observer.
"I really hope that in the future, China and Pakistan can also have relevant cooperation so that the people of Pakistan can see pandas in their own zoos," Malik said.
The 31st FISU World University Games, after offering exciting competitions and diverse cultural exposure, concluded on Tuesday in Southwest China's Chengdu with a splendid ceremony that wrapped up shining moments during the Games and delivered wishes for a happier and brighter future.
The Chengdu FISU Games were not only a gathering for sports, but also a gathering to enhance mutual understanding and make friends, and the friendship will pass on among youth from all over the world with their traits of openness, inclusiveness, solidarity and vitality, analysts said.
The appearance of delegations features the process of a dove tree's growing from root to giant plant with lush branches and leaves. The dove-like flowers, a symbol of peace, then start to bloom.
The dove tree is a species indigenous to China which survived the ice age and its flower resembles a flying dove with two snow-white bracts. The ceremony incorporates the elements of the dove tree and its flowers to stress the resilience of life and the hope for everlasting peace.
Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin and FISU acting president Leonz Eder attended the ceremony.
The ceremony stage was designed based on a "cell phone" and captured the concept of livestreaming. Through the camera of a "livestreamer," young people from all over the world were able to be part of the FISU Games.
The master display presented 3D visual effects with naked-eye 3D technology, offering novel, amazing, special and delicate spectating experience.
After lowering the FISU flag along the playing of the FISU anthem, the flag was handed over to Rhine-Ruhr, host city of next FISU Games in 2025.
The FISU Games ran from July 28 to August 8 and featured 269 events across 18 sports. The Chinese delegation participated in all 18 sports of the games and claimed 103 gold medals, 40 silvers and 35 bronzes in total, ranking on top of the medal tally.
Besides performance on the competition ground, China's performance in terms of hosting this international event is also well recognized.
"The preparations and setup of the venues are just unbelievable. Everything has been running smoothly and the competitions are going very well. We can only praise the organizing committee for the great work it's done," Eder said in an earlier exclusive interview with the Global Times.
Making friends
For the participants, from athletes and coaches to staff and volunteers, the past weeks have made Chengdu, known for its tasty cuisines, adorable pandas and a leisure lifestyle, an unforgettable place where they've shed sweat and tears, challenged themselves and make breakthroughs, and more importantly, make friends beyond borders, analysts said.
One touching moment which can elucidate the sportsmanship of the youth event happened on Friday. When Uganda's badminton player Amos Muyanja broke his racket without a replacement, his competitor from China Wang Zhengxing offered Muyanja a backup racket.
The FISU Games organizer wrote on Twitter that "we unite to push our limits and inspire each other… We wish all the participants not only to take home victories but also friendship and cherished memories!"
Azerbaijan badminton player Agil Gabilov told the Global Times on Tuesday that Chengdu has been a great experience for him. He made friends with athletes and volunteers and was impressed by the friendliness he received.
Brazilian swimmer Fernanda Gomes Celidonio said that volunteers at the Chengdu Games made her feel "at home."
Athletes including German volleyball player Yann Bohme got a birthday surprise as after a match, the cheering squad and mascot Rongbao wished him happy birthday and the audience sang in chorus the birthday melody for him.
Athletes also received special gifts, including 3D-printed figurine and local artifacts such as palm fiber weavings and embroidery badges, according to media reports.
The Games also provide a great platform for cultural exchanges other than competition, which Zambian tennis player Esther Sakala appreciated a lot.
Sakala, as a lover of art and an artist herself, was excited to meet those crafty and talented people and see their skills. She had a chance to paint a cup which was later given as a gift and Sakala said she "Loved it so much."A range of Chinese cultural elements, from handicrafts to musical instruments, have intrigued FISU Game participants at a culture fair held next to the Games Village.
Youth spirit
On and off the competition ground, youth across the world are demonstrating the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and solidarity, igniting a world of division and turbulence, analysts noted.
The Chengdu FISU Games were postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this successful holding marked the resumption of face-to-face communication and exchanges among youth via sports and can leverage more interactions in other fields, such as culture, they said.
Li Haidong, a professor with the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that sport can be an easy bridge to connect people from different countries and regions and help them build friendship.
The FISU World University Games in Chengdu are a precious opportunity for athletes and people from all around the world to deepen mutual understanding and trust, which will also lay the foundation for closer cooperation and solidarity, Li noted.
FISU Universiade was first held during the Cold War in 1959. It not only encourages young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, but also seeks to promote young people communicating across cultural, political and religious barriers through sports, Ren Hai, a professor at the Olympic Research Center of Beijing Sports University, told the Global Times.
When the world is experiencing uncertainty and turbulence, China hopes to deliver a message of peace, communication and cooperation through this gathering of young people, who represent hope and the future, analysts said.
Eder, the acting president of the FISU, has visited China more than 20 times and observed the country's fast economic development, as well as its increased confidence and openness. "I can feel the country's readiness to cooperate with many countries whether they come from the East, West, North, or South," Eder said.
Chinese players have accomplished one upset after another at the ongoing US Open.
In the hard-court tennis Grand Slam tournament, Zhang Zhizhen became the first man from the Chinese mainland to beat a player in the top five of the ATP rankings as he pulled off a resilient display of tennis skills to prevail against World No.5 Casper Ruud of Norway 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 on Wednesday night.
Thanks to his powerful serves (18 aces) and punishing forehand that overwhelmed Ruud with a whopping 60 winners overall, Zhang made it to the third round of the tournament, a new breakthrough in his personal career.
"That was a wild ride," US Open official Twitter commented on Zhang's surprise victory over the 2022 US Open runner-up. Rudd had been to the finals in three of the last six Grand Slam events.
The 26-year-old also avenged his loss to Rudd in the third round of the French Open in June. Zhang will face Rinky Hijikata of Australia in the third round. His opponent, Ruud, believes he can keep on going. "I was impressed, in a way, how he played," Ruud said. "He's going to be a threat for many years."
"Last year at the US Open, I can say it was a bad memory. But this year is a little bit different," said Zhang after the match.
"At the end of the match, when I finished the last point, I didn't really celebrate, as if I was not super happy. But I was happy inside, it just didn't show."
Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times that Zhang has been improving, especially after he hired Lu Yen-hsun, a retired player from Taiwan island, to join his team. Liu said he looks forward to seeing Zhang representing China at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Should Zhang reach the fourth round, he will have a chance to become the first Chinese man to crack the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings.
Zhang is not the only Chinese that stunned a seeded player as Zhu Lin moved into the third round after breezing past Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-3 in the women's singles.
The emerging younger generation of Chinese swimmers have contributed massively to China's swimming dominance at the Asian Games, as the national swimming team brought their gold medal tally on Monday to 11.
A most outstanding breakthrough came from Pan Zhanle, a 19-year-old freestyle sprint specialist. The young man crushed it with a new lifetime best of 46.97 seconds to take the gold medal in the men's 100 meters freestyle on Sunday.
But Pan remained unsatisfied with the breakthrough.
"I felt my performance was mediocre. I was aiming to break the world record before the race," Pan told reporters after the race. "The Asian record doesn't feel like anything extraordinary. This is something I should get. It's a bit disappointing that I missed it by only 0.11 seconds."
Pan's performance has set a new Asian record, making him the first Asian swimmer to finish 100 meters under the 47-second barrier and the fifth-fastest swimmer in the discipline in history. Previously his personal best was at 47.22 seconds produced at this year's Chinese Championships.
The world record remains at the 46.86 seconds Romania's David Popovici put on the books at the 2022 European Championships.
Pan told the Global Times that the secret behind his triumph lies in the everyday training during which he has paid close attention to improving his flip turns.
"The last two months I have put a lot of effort into improving my jump start and flip turns," Pan told the Global Times. "Communication with the coach is very important," he said, before noting he will continue to strive toward the goal of breaking the world record in the future.
Standing next to Pan on the men's 100 meters freestyle podium was 18-year-old Wang Haoyu. Speaking of his performance of 48.02 seconds, 1.05 seconds behind Pan's achievement, Wang said nervousness at the Asian Games thwarted him from attaining a better performance.
"I was a little nervous. It's impossible not to be [as it's my first Asian Games]. It was slightly below my expectations," Wang told reporters. "I got on the podium, but the result could have been better. I still need to fight in the events to come."
Female breaststroker Tang Qianting, 19, also set up a new Chinese national standard and Asian record in the women's 50 meters breaststroke.
Firing off a time of 29.92 seconds in the heat, she not only produced the sole outing of the field under the 30-second barrier, but it represented a shiny new lifetime best for the teen and her first-ever foray under the threshold.
Tang's previous career quickest record was 30.08 seconds she logged at this year's World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Monday night also saw 18-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Yiting win the women's 200 meters individual relay in 2:07.75, setting up a new Asian Games record and outperforming veteran teammate and 2012 Olympic champion Ye Shiwen.
Yang Junxuan, 21, has also played a key role in securing the women's 4x100 meters freestyle relay gold medal
Besides the young swimmers, already crowned world champions Zhang Yufei and Qin Haiyang remain the marquee names in the swimming squad.
Having publicly announced that she is aiming for the Asian Games MVP award, Zhang told the Global Times that the biggest challenge in achieving the goal is the short-distance sprints.
The previous Asian Games female MVP award winner was Rikako Ikee of Japan who won six gold and two silver medals in eight competitions when she participated in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018.
Zhang, who anchored the Chinese women's 4x100 meters freestyle relay to victory following her 200 meters butterfly title, said she wants to win seven gold medals in Hangzhou.
"I'm hoping to get seven gold medals here. And I feel confident about it. Let's take it one step at a time," she told reporters.
Breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang lowered the Asian Games record in men's 100 meters breaststroke to 57.76 seconds to win his first gold medal at the Hangzhou Games.
The triple world champion has set his sights on setting up a new 50 meters world record, after he crushed Adam Peaty's 200 meters world record in the worlds.
"The world record I want to break the most is the 50 meters," Qin told reporters.
"It's an event that I feel more confident in, and I've also been putting more effort into training for this one."
The press conference for the 2023 Beijing Dance Academy Performance Season was held at the Beijing Dance Academy.
From November to January 2024, 47 shows, 90 performances and more than 30 supporting activities will be staged in various theaters in Beijing.
The performance season covers different professional genres, such as Chinese classical dance, Chinese ethnic and folk dance, ballet, musical and modern dance.
The performance season is a gathering of high-quality domestic performance institutions.
Xu Rui, president of the academy, said that he looks forward to deepening cooperation and exchanges with more performance institutions, and telling Chinese stories with an inclusive and eclectic vision and atmosphere.
Ba Tu, the Party chief of the Beijing Dance Academy, said that the performance season is a distinctive mark of the academy's attributes: talent output, quality collection, and resource convergence.
The special section, Taoli Cup Invitation Performance Series, will include top-notch artistic talents and excellent artistic works selected for a national tour.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Alexander Matheous has described the situation of quake-affected people in west Afghanistan's Herat province as extremely impoverished, and said the body would continue to assist them.
"We will continue to provide relief items in the coming days. Our plan is to work with the Afghan Red Crescent on suitable shelters for the people to live in the short term," Matheous told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.
The IFRC has already provided humanitarian assistance such as blankets, non-food items and hygiene kits, the official said, adding the affected families need more support.
The official who visited the quake-stricken areas in Herat also noted that the quake-affected people need support to rebuild their homes and live in the long term.
Two deadly quakes, each with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale, followed by several aftershocks, rocked west Afghanistan with an epicenter in the Zanda Jan district of Herat province last Saturday, and left at least 2,053 dead and thousands more injured.
Another tremor measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted Herat on Wednesday, killing one person, injuring more than 150 others, and causing property damages.
"More than 2,000 people and over 2,000 homes are destroyed," the official said, adding most of the victims are women and children, and the affected families have lost what they had.
"People need food, water, shelter, medical camp...It was a very dramatic and tragic disaster for the people," the official told Xinhua.
Praising the contribution of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in tackling the problems of the quake-affected people, the official said that it was the first humanitarian organization to be present after the disaster.
"We will support the Afghan Red Crescent to work not just in this relief phase, but also in the months to come to rebuild the houses and people's livelihoods," Matheous emphasized.
"The most famous classic novel of China, A Journey to the West, as a matter of fact, is one of the few that have been translated and dubbed using Greenlandic voices for our national broadcasting TV. This shows that even though we are very far away from each other, we can build a bridge and a common future with mutual understanding and efforts," said Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenlandic minister for statehood and foreign affairs, at the official opening of the Greenlandic Representation on Monday at the Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing.
The reception was attended by the Danish Ambassador to China Thomas Østrup Møller, Greenlandic Minister for Statehood and Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt, head of the Greenland Representation in Beijing Jacob Isbosethsen, as well as other ministers and ambassadors.
"Royal Greenland has been present in Qingdao for 20 years now. Other companies, like Polar Seafood have also contributed a lot in exports and trade with China," Motzfeldt said.
She expressed her gratitude to the Chinese government and the Chinese People's Institute for Foreign Affairs for the cooperation between Greenland and China.
In addition, the Danish Embassy held an insightful seminar on tourism on Tuesday at the Greenland Representation in Beijing.
In her opening speech at the event, Motzfeldt emphasized the importance of tourism to the Greenlandic economy.
"The Government of Greenland has invested a lot in a new tourism policy and strategy. The Parliament and Government have decided to expand the runways and build three new airports in Nuuk, Ilulissat, and Qagortoq," she told the Global Times.
Air Greenland CEO Jacob Nitter Sørensen, head of Visa and Consular Affairs at the Royal Danish Embassy Charlotte Duelund, Polar Club 66 Co Ltd director Joe Chan, and other guests also introduced Greenlandic gastronomy, beautiful Arctic Circle, and other practical travel tips.
Siyabonga Cwele, South African Ambassador to China, attended the Third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) held from June 29 to July 2, 2023 in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province. The Expo themed "Common Development for a Shared Future,"was co-sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce and the government of Hunan Province.
Ambassador Cwele also attended other events held within the Third CAETE, such as the China-Africa Sanitary and Phytosanitary Cooperation Forum, the China-Africa Fair for Investment and Trade on Light Industry Products(Fashion Products), and the Hunan-Africa Products and Tourism Matchmaking Conference, and delivered speeches respectively.
Ambassador Cwele gave a presentation at the China-Africa Fair for Investment and Trade on Light Industry Products(Fashion Products).
He said, "In the past three years, the volume of bilateral trade in light industry goods between South Africa and China has increased by 30 percent. China has a strong manufacturing industry with rich technologies and experience, and diverse light industry products. South Africa on the other hand has good infrastructure, a mature investment environment, and a world-class financial and legal system. There is a great potential and much opportunity for further cooperation in trade and investment between our two countries in the light industry."
At the Hunan-Africa Products and Tourism Matchmaking Conference, Cwele indicated that on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the bilateral relations between South Africa and China in 2023, he looked forward to welcoming more Chinese tourists to South Africa to experience and enjoy a new lifestyle, and to bring more vitality to the market.
Cwele also participated in the Online Shopping Festival Featuring Quality African Products at the third CAETE.
At the event, the ambassador promoted high-quality products from South Africa such as Rooibos tea, wine, Aloe Vera, and products from the rest of Africa via livestreaming, which increased the exposure of African products and provided an opportunity for Chinese consumers to get a better understanding of the products being showcased.
The Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey held a reception at the Turkish Embassy in Beijing with the aim of boosting investment cooperation with China. The event, as a part of their "Turkish Century Investment Reception" series, saw more than 500 business people and investors from China's leading companies to attend.
Turkish Ambassador to China Ismail Hakkı Musa, President of the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Burak Daglioglu, and the Silk Road Fund Chairwoman Zhu Jun were also in attendance.
"This year, we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey and the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Turkey and China. From e-commerce to telecommunications, from renewable energy to electric vehicles, from cloud technology to the defense industry, we have forged new partnerships with China in a wide range of areas," the ambassador said.
In addition, the guests sampled sumptuous Turkish cuisine and discussed cooperation and investment opportunities.
