The Tongliang Dragon is dubbed as the "No.1 Dragon in China" both at home and abroad. Tongliang Dragon Dance and Tongliang Dragon Lantern Caizha (colorful silk handicraft) are two national intangible cultural heritages (ICHs) in the district of Tongliang, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.
In recent years, the district has used the dragon culture as a leverage to strengthen the systematic protection of ICHs through continued innovation and development.
A large-scale ICH live show "Dream Chasing - Tongliang Dragon" was staged at the Xuantianhu Dragon Dance Square, which has renovated the arena to enhance audiences' visual experience.
The extravaganza is set against the backdrop of Tongliang's dragon culture and centers on Chinese folktale "Carp Leaps into the Dragon's Gate," telling a story of how Chinese people uphold the spirit of the dragon, stay true to their original aspiration, work hard, pursue their dreams and ultimately achieve success.
The Dragon Dance show showcases various ICH performances, including the Tongliang Dragon Dance and Lantern Dance, allowing the audiences to better experience ICHs and promote traditional Chinese culture.
The Tongliang Dragon Dance is a precious cultural resource that has enabled the sustainable and healthy development of dragon culture for thousands of years. Today, this culture has entered elementary and secondary schools and has been documented in local textbooks.
A forum focusing on enhancing China's foreign-related legal system and the cultivation of talents in the niche legal field was launched on Sunday in Beijing.
The event was attended by several Chinese experts in the legal field. Some of them were veterans of the "court" organ while others were scholars of law departments at China's higher-education schools such as Beijing Foreign Studies University.
The forum represents China's all-round efforts to strengthen its foreign-related legal system, which Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized at the 10th collective study session held by the Political Bureau of Communist Party of China CPC Central Committee on November 27.
Qiao Xiaoyang, the former chairman of the National People's Congress Law Committee, gave an opening speech to indicate the urgency of boosting the foreign-related legal system as in the international legal community China has gone from being a "calm rational observer" to a "participant in making regulations with the integrity of justice and equality."
"By enhancing our 'legal confidence,' we can amplify the country's discourse power in the international legal community while allowing us to become better connected to the world," Qiao remarked.
Tribunal experts such as Gao Xiaoli and Si Yanli shared their insights on detailed legal aspects such as establishing mechanisms for international commercial dispute settlements as well as how to boost China's foreign law relations with the world by borrowing the developing strengths of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Gao, a judge with the China International Commercial Court (CICC), said that thanks to China's prosperous and growing Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the country's business exchanges with the world are surging and fruitful but it is also unavoidable that business conflicts will emerge.
She then proposed to establish a "comprehensive legal platform" that can provide a "one-stop service" to deal with international business disputes. The platform includes not only tribunal and council facilities, but should have a combined mechanism of "arbitrament" and "legal mediation" for disputes to be settled in the most "low cost and efficient" way.
In September, the fourth batch of typical international business dispute cases were revealed by the Supreme People's Court of China. By collaborating with 10 international commercial arbitration institutions, more than 7,891 cases have been settled in the past five years, including international cases involving countries such as Thailand, Italy and the US.
As the heart of China's international trading, the GBA exhibits China's legal confidence by embracing diverse legal systems. Si, the deputy director of the research department of the Supreme People's Court of China, has encouraged more "frequent exchanges" between legal institutions in the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
Wang Junhui, an international legal expert, told the Global Times that more exchanges can help Chinese mainland enterprises "go global."
"The emergence of such new strategies in the legal field also reflect China's growing social modernization. Laws should keep up with the times too," Wang told the Global Times.
To support such social-legal strategies, nation-wide legal education should keep up to provide the country with more talents and think tanks.
At the event, experts such as Wang Haiyan, the head of the Academic Office of China University of Political Science and Law, shared a unique educational strategy to cultivate "interdisciplinary talents."
A legal student should be trained with knowledge in foreign languages, economy and finance as well as cultural studies.
"We are seeking to train young Chinese legal workers who know how to deliver legal points in context with their own narrative systems and ideologies," the expert noted.
The event was held at the CP Center an co-organized by the Law School of Beijing Foreign Studies University, School of Juris Master in China University of Political Science and Law and the Beijing Zhuoya Research Center for Economic and Social Development.
The Chinese and American teams have worked together to support the success of COP28, which was also one of the goals of the previous joint climate statement between the two countries, Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change affairs, said on Wednesday. The two countries are expected to update their respective nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in line with the requirements of the Paris Agreement and the results of this first-ever global stocktake.
During COP28, China and the US agreed that following the requirements of the Paris agreement and also the suggestions made in the outcome for the first global stock take, China and the US will respectively evaluate their respective long-term strategies for climate action, and then based on that, update their NDCs, so as to better implement the Paris agreement, Xie said at a press conference along with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
Xie looked back the Sunnyland climate agreement jointly released by China and the US in mid-November, the two main goals of which were to support a successful COP28 in UAE and to enhance exchanges and cooperation between China and the US.
"Here in Dubai, we have already fulfilled part of what we agreed in Sunnyland, which is working together to promote a successful COP28. When the negotiations were getting stuck, we worked together and provided some joint proposals to unlock the deadlock in the negotiations and facilitated the success of the COP," Xie noted.
He said that China and the US also agreed to launch joint working groups on climate change between the two countries as soon as possible, including areas such as energy transition, circular economy, methane, and low-carbon sustainable provinces, states, and cities. "The four working groups should step up their activities to implement our respective NDCs and to promote multilateral processes," he said.
Kerry said at the press conference that the Paris Agreement and the global stocktake both emphasize the importance of developing and updating long-term strategies to reduce emissions and enhance resilience. "Two years ago, the United States and China agreed to submit updated long-term strategies at the Glasgow COP. We did exactly that. Today, we are announcing our joint intention to revisit and update our long-term strategies going forward. I wanted to highlight this commitment and take the opportunity to thank you for the efforts we have made together."
The two are old acquaintances as climate envoys, and Xie also extended his personal best wishes to Kerry, who celebrated his 80th birthday during COP28. "I feel so lucky that I can make such a good friend like Secretary Kerry. We have been friends for over 20 years. I hope we can continue to work together to make this world a better place," he said.
"My eight-year-old grandson asked me, 'Why are you still working so hard at your age?' I replied, 'Because we are all passionate about this common cause of addressing climate change.' And I believe with our younger generations, this cause will be carried forward generation after generation. Our cause must be sustainable," Xie said with a smile.
