A zoo in Central China's Henan Province has introduced hotel rooms featuring floor-to-ceiling windows that allow guests an up-close view of tigers, sparking public concerns over safety.
Located in Qinyang, Henan Province, the Hesheng Forest Zoo is offering 30 “tiger-view rooms,” with these rooms situated within the tiger observation area, Beijing News reported. In addition to the hotel accommodations, the observation area also contains the tigers' living quarters, which house Siberian tigers, Bengal golden tigers, and white tigers, according to the report.

Guests are able to view two to three tigers through the transparent glass windows from a single room, Beijing Daily reported, citing a staff member from the zoo.

Online booking platforms show that a tiger-view room is a twin-bedded standard room of 25 to 35 square meters, priced at 168 yuan ($24.65) and includes two tickets to the zoo.

This unique accommodation has drawn widespread attention from netizens. Some expressed curiosity and called on those who have stayed there to share their experience, while others raised concerns about the quality of lodging given the low price. 

Several people expressed concern over safety. The zoo addressed the concerns, stating that the viewing area and the tigers’ living quarters are separated by three layers of professional glass, ensuring complete safety, Beijing Daily reported.

According to the Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau of Qinyang, the “tiger-view rooms” have met safety standards and passed local inspection, based on information provided by the Xingwan town people's government, the responsible regulatory body, according to Beijing News.

The report also noted that the zoo is a privately operated facility. Corporate information platform Tianyancha shows that the zoo, founded in 2021, is an enterprise primarily engaged in the entertainment business.

Several netizens also raised concerns over whether the operation of the tiger-view rooms will affect the tigers’ daily lives.

Zhang Minghai, director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration Feline Research Center and Professor at the College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, was quoted by Beijing Daily as saying that whether tigers’ daily lives are disrupted mainly depends on whether their activity space is restricted and whether the materials of the barrier facilities could harm the animals.

“If both of these factors are acceptable and the associated facilities meet standards, these ‘tiger-view rooms’ will generally not cause additional adverse effects on the tigers,” Zhang added.

Zhang also said that the protection and utilization of wild animals are mutually reinforcing, with protection as the prerequisite for utilization. “It would be ideal if the revenue generated can be used to improve the tigers’ welfare and form a virtuous cycle,” he said, according to Beijing Daily.

America's ability to understand and manage its most consequential strategic relationship is eroding. Fewer than 2,000 Americans per year are currently estimated to be studying in China compared to 11,000 in 2019, according to a latest report released by the Washington-based non-profit US-China Education Trust (USCET).

If this pattern persists, the critical shortage will become a reality "as today's specialists with deep in-country experience retire without replacement," David M. Lampton, 80 years old, chair of the working group of the report and a renowned "China Hand" in the US, said in the foreword of the report.

At the launching ceremony of the report on March 20, Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China under President Joe Biden, said it would be "a national security imperative," referring to American students studying in China, according to The South China Morning Post.

Not only in the research sphere, in the politics circle, the US is also witnessing a downward trend in the number of officials with practical experiences in dealing with China. "US leaders need to see what's happening in China," read the title of an opinion article published by The New York Times on March 22.

If these trends continue, the US will get ill-informed and disoriented in formulating its China policy, putting the entire American China studies system - which the US itself built after World War II - at risk of generational collapse, warned Mei Yang, an expert in China-US defense and security affairs from The Institute for International Affairs, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).

Declining China experts

China experts in the US refer to American specialists in overseas China studies with a focus primarily on political science, strategic studies and international relations, and are mainly devoted to research on contemporary and practical issues concerning China, according to Mei.

Among them, some actively participated in the two sides' exchanges and exerted influence in the US' China policies, for example, Henry Kissinger, the eminent US diplomat and strategist who played a pivotal role in shaping China-US relations as he spearheaded the historic normalization process. This group is also dubbed China Hands.
Veteran China Hands like Kissinger usually maintained close connections with various sectors of Chinese society, possessed a solid command of Chinese and conducted regular field research in China. This allowed them to develop a relatively profound understanding of Chinese culture and realities. Even when they held personal differing views, these were rooted in on-the-ground observations of China, with Robert D. Barnett, an affiliate of the Lau China Institute at King's College of London, being one such example, Mei explained.

Other renowned American China Hands include Kenneth Lieberthal, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, and Thomas Christensen, Director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University.

Many veteran China Hands began studying China in the 1960s and 1970s. They saw their research coincide with the gradual normalization of China US relations, as well as China's shift from isolation to reform and opening up and from underdevelopment to progress. Thus, they generally held optimistic and favorable views toward China, Da Wei, director of Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.

However, the group of veteran China Hands is facing a risk of a generational gap with no adequate successors to take over. "If we take 1975 as the dividing line, or classify middle-aged and young experts from senior ones by the age of 50, the US has already encountered a serious generational gap among veteran China Hands. Scholars under 50 are few while most scholars over 50 are generally over 70 and facing retirement," Mei told the Global Times.

In 2015, China Foreign Affairs University released a list of influential China Hands in the US, based on their impact on US policy-making, academic influence and social influence. Lampton topped the list, followed by David Shambaugh, the founding Director of the China Policy Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, and Avery Goldstein, the Inaugural Director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania. The Global Times found that all 10 candidates on the list were born no later than 1975, and eight of them were aged over 70 as of 2026.

The youngest among the top 10 was M. Taylor Fravel, director of MIT Security Studies Program who focuses on international security, China, and East Asia, according to an introduction of him on MIT website. He was reportedly born in 1971.

Beyond general gap risk, veteran China Hands in the US have increasingly returned to academic research at universities, with their students similarly gravitating toward higher education. Consequently, the discourse power over China policy has gradually shifted to think tanks. A growing divide has thus emerged in US' China studies between the university-based "academic camp" and the think tank-led "policy camp," with policy-oriented research from think tanks increasingly gaining the upper hand, Mei said.
According to Mei, the younger generation China experts also present a notable shift in research interest toward military and security issues.

This not only underscores the growing adversarial dynamics in future China-US relations, but also suggests that the new generation of China Hands who will shape the bilateral relationship over an extended period may adopt a more objective, and even detached, attitude toward China. They treat China as a country for calm, dispassionate analysis, rather than a field for in-depth exploration of its historical and cultural connotations, infused with personal sentiment and academic idealism. Against this backdrop, many China Hands are no longer broadly knowledgeable about China; instead, they focus narrowly on specific issues concerning the country, he analyzed.

In this point, Michael S. Chase, former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, whose expertise lies in China's maritime security and military modernization, serves as a typical example.

"While well researched on military reforms and naval capabilities, Chase shows little interest in other dimensions of China. This shows a sharp contrast to his mentor Lampton, who grasps China holistically and practices empathetic understanding. Chase maintains an objective and distant stance," Mei said.

Chilling effect

Apart from the internal elements, the toxic political environment and intensified policies play a more vital role in the declining of America's China experts. "Undoubtedly, a 'chilling effect' has emerged in the US regarding engagement with China. China-US people-to-people and cultural exchanges have been significantly 'securitized,'" Zhao Minghao, an expert at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, told the Global Times.

According to the USCET report, in the US, federal funding for China-focused study has declined sharply, and many longstanding exchange programs have been suspended. Heightened US university research security rules and new state-level restrictions on university engagement with China have further reduced opportunities for academic travel.

Since the US adopted the "great-power competition" strategy toward China in 2017, the US government has imposed a host of restrictive measures on people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, particularly educational interaction. During that period, the US Department of Justice launched the "China Initiative," and agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeted Chinese American scientists with ties to China, Zhao said.

During the Biden administration, while Washington formally scrapped the China Initiative in name, it has continued to restrict China-related cooperation at US universities and research institutions. Under this circumstance, many US colleges and universities have suspended partnerships with Chinese institutions, even explicitly restricting faculty and staff travel to China, and warning American students that visiting or studying in China carries security risks such as "wrongful detention," according to Zhao.
Li Cheng, a Chinese American political science expert and a China Hand listed on the abovementioned list, returned to China in 2023 after living in the US for nearly 40 years. He is now a professor of political science and founding director of the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong.

In an interview with the Lianhe Zaobao in July 2023, Li said that life in the US has grown more uncomfortable for Chinese Americans. He said that he is increasingly asked to clarify which side he represents during public speeches. "When I say 'we,' people ask: Who exactly do you mean by 'we'?" Li was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The "decoupling" from China pushed by the US government in recent years has effectively weakened Americans' access to professional knowledge about China in the name of national security. Any American scholar whose research agenda involves China may face investigations by the federal government, or be denounced by the US officials on social media for assisting China's development. This has further reduced the number of young people coming to China to study the Chinese language and culture, Mei said.

As the USCET report noted, today, American students and scholars are deterred from studying in China because of a widespread perception that such experience will prevent them from obtaining a security clearance for a US government job in the future.

Mei deemed the Trump administration's two terms in office were eight years that witnessed the declining of America's China Hands. He noted that some hardline China experts, such as Miles Yu and Michael Pillsbury (who emphasized the "China threat" rhetoric, claiming that China seeks expansion and to surpass the US), were hired during the Trump administration's first term. However, now, in its second term, even hardline China experts have been excluded from the government's decision-making circle.

Exchanges needed

In the eyes of Da, China is developing and updating its concepts at a rapid pace, yet the current generation of American China Hands lacks on-the-ground experience and is unable to develop a nuanced and accurate understanding of the country.

Universities and institutes in the US have been aware of this crisis and are making sincere efforts to restore bilateral exchanges, including the National Committee on US-China Relations, the Asia Society, and the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Former US Ambassador to China Max Baucus, a native of Montana, has in recent years personally led student delegations from the state on visits to China on multiple occasions, Zhao noted.

The launch of the initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over a five-year period has also helped to boost educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries. As of January 2026, over 40,000 US youth have actively participated in the initiative, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Da called for more favorable policies to make it easier for American students to study and work in China. "Over time, these students will grow into a new generation of China Hands."

This year is a vital year for the China-US relationship with a series of planned interactions between the two sides. We also hope that renewed engagement in the field of education between the two sides will achieve fresh progress as this represents a major and positive development serving the long-term interests of both countries, Zhao said.

China's position is very clear - there are no winners in tariff wars, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday, when asked to comment on remarks by US President Donald Trump on Truth Social that "a Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately."

On April 7, the foothills of the Dabie Mountains in southern Henan were shrouded in mist and covered with fresh greenery, ushering in the prime season for picking and processing Xinyang Maojian — one of China's Top Ten Famous Teas. Stretching across Hanchong in Shangcheng county, Xinyang city, the 10,000-mu tea plantations present a delightful scene of fragrant spring tea, attracting visitors to taste its flavor.

Xinyang Maojian is famous for plump buds, prominent white pekoe, and fresh, crisp taste. The picking windows for pre-Qingming Festival tea and pre-Grain Rain tea are short but the tea is of premium quality. Fresh tea leaves must go through fixation, strip shaping, baking and other processes on the same day to lock in the unique chestnut aroma and fresh, mellow taste of Maojian. With modern tea processing equipment, stable power supply has become critical to ensure stable output and improved quality of spring tea.

As spring tea processing enters its peak period, fixation machines, strip shaping machines and dryers in tea factories run continuously, leading to a rise in electricity load in tea-growing areas. To guarantee uninterrupted spring tea production, State Grid Shangcheng County Power Supply Company acted in strict accordance with the three-year drive to address the root causes of workplace accidents and ensure production safety, and carried out special power inspections for tea plantations and tea enterprises in advance. It conducted thorough checks on power lines, transformers and processing equipment to eliminate potential electrical hazards in a timely manner. Meanwhile, convenient online service channels were launched to provide all-day power support and rapid response, offering reliable electricity support for tea farmers and enterprises to facilitate efficient processing and on-schedule marketing of spring tea.

At present, hundreds of thousands of mu of tea plantations in Shangcheng county are fully harvested. The tea industry has boosted income for tens of thousands of farming households and become a pillar industry for local rural revitalization. Stable and sufficient power supply has accelerated the production of Xinyang Maojian spring tea, enabling the green leaves from southern Henan to spread their fragrance far and wide, benefiting tea farmers in the spring.

At the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Vietnamese President To Lam will pay a state visit to China from April 14 to 17, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Hu Zhaoming, spokesperson for the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Vietnamese local media outlet VietNamNet highlighted on Thursday that this marks the first overseas trip by To Lam in his capacity as head of state since being elected President at the first session of the 16th National Assembly, Vietnam's top legislature, on Tuesday.

Chinese observers noted that the official announcement of the visit, which comes shortly after To Lam assumed the office of president, underscores the strong emphasis both sides place on bilateral ties.

This visit not only consolidates the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future, but also facilitates cooperation and exchanges across various fields, advancing alignment between the two sides in their respective modernization drives, observers added.

Deeply valued

Nhan Dan Newspaper of Vietnam reported on Thursday that To Lam's wife and a high-level Vietnamese delegation will accompany him on the visit to China.

A Reuters report described To Lam's visit as taking place "as ties between the two nations continue to warm."

Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute at Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the visit underscored the distinctive strategic standing between China and Vietnam as socialist neighbors - with China being regarded as the primary partner in ensuring a stable external environment and advancing Vietnam's own development.

Echoing Gu, Ding Duo, a deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Law and Policy at China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies, also said that amid the current global geopolitical tensions, this upcoming visit sends a signal that Vietnam's new leadership is unwilling to be swayed by external interference and remains resolutely committed to safeguarding the high-level bilateral relations.

Since the beginning of this year, the two countries have maintained close exchanges across various fields.

From January 29 to 30, Liu Haixing, special envoy of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping, visited Vietnam, Xinhua reported. Several days later, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Le Hoai Trung, special envoy of General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee To Lam, in Beijing on February 3, per Xinhua.

On March 16, the first ministerial meeting of the China-Vietnam "3+3" strategic dialogue on diplomacy, defense and public security was held in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on March 16. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong and Minister of National Defense Dong Jun chaired the meeting, together with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung, Defense Minister Phan Van Giang and Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang.

Both sides agreed the successful conclusion of the event signifies that China-Vietnam strategic communication and coordination have established a new platform, advanced to a new stage, and been elevated to a new level, according to a release from Chinese Foreign Ministry on March 17.

Ding said To Lam's upcoming visit also clearly conveys the continuity of Vietnam's policy toward China, prioritizing ties with China in the country's diplomacy.

Analysts say a steady stream of exchanges over the past four months, capped by the upcoming visit, underscores both sides' resolve to deepen a China-Vietnam community with a shared future. They expect the high-level trip to unlock further tangible gains in bilateral cooperation.

Practical outcomes expected

Given the substantial similarities in the political systems of the two countries, the visit is expected not only to consolidate bilateral relations but also to enable Vietnam to draw on China's experience in economic development, energy, infrastructure construction and other sectors, Chinese observers noted.

This visit is expected to yield a series of practical outcomes, potentially cooperation in fields such as railways, energy, economy and trade, as well as Science and technology, they said.

Vietnam Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan noted that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has significantly disrupted global oil and gas supply chains, with impacts surpassing previous oil shocks in scale and intensity, VNExpress news reported on April 4.

Ding said as a major country in terms of technology and resources, China could provide power grid interconnection, investment in clean energy projects, as well as technical support for LNG and renewable energy. This can help Vietnam ease supply pressures, stabilize regional supply chains, and prevent disruptions to global manufacturing caused by energy shortages, he added.

BBC reported that a test to To Lam will be whether he can meet the ambitious growth targets he has set his government, at a time when the global economic outlook is so unsettled.

Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam He Wei said that in 2025, the bilateral trade volume between China and Vietnam historically surpassed the $290 billion mark, with China continuing to be Vietnam's largest export market for agricultural and aquatic products, chinanews.com reported on February 12.

Vietnamese fruits and vegetables earned $5.5 billion in foreign exchange from exports to China, greatly contributing to local farmers' income growth and prosperity, He added.

In the first two months of 2026, China was Vietnam's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade turnover reaching $66.7 billion, an increase of 30.2 percent, according to information released on the official website of the Government of Vietnam on Thursday.

Vietnam's exports amounted to $17.4 billion, up 32.5 percent, while its imports reached $49.3 billion, up 29.4 percent, according to the government.

Vietnam's economic development is currently constrained by inadequate infrastructure, an area where China is well positioned to offer substantial support, Gu noted.

Vietnam and China have signed a technical cooperation agreement on planning two standard-gauge railways - Hanoi-Dong Dang and Hai Phong-Ha Long-Mong Cai - marking progress in bilateral railway connectivity, VietNamNet reported on March 25.

Ding said the alignment of railway systems via standard gauge can enhance cross-border logistics efficiency, and when coupled with cooperation on infrastructure such as 5G, it can drive the integration of digital economies, collectively transforming the "hard connectivity" between the two countries into a growth pole for shared development.

Chinese analysts said the two parties, CPC and CPV, are also expected to deepen exchanges on governance through party-to-party channels, sharing experience on reform and development, and anti-corruption efforts. At the same time, broader ties—in areas such as youth engagement, local cooperation, tourism, and cultural exchange—are set to expand, reinforcing the foundation of the bilateral relationship.

Against this backdrop, analysts said closer coordination between China and Vietnam as neighboring socialist countries could help inject greater certainty and stability into regional industrial and supply chains. Such cooperation is also expected to bolster opposition to unilateral pressure and lend momentum to multilateral approaches.

On a recent summer afternoon in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, there were very few people on the streets, and traffic was relatively light. Such a sight hardly showed any sign of a rapidly shifting global geo-economic landscape.

Yet, a closer look revealed a very interesting dynamic: While a vast majority of the cars on the streets are older sedans carrying the golden cross logo of US carmaker Chevrolet, newer, futuristic ones are often new-energy vehicles (NEVs) produced by Chinese carmaker BYD. The slogan - Build Your Dream - was a distinctive feature on the back of each BYD cars.  

Such a dynamic is expected to become even more significant not just on the streets of Tashkent, but also those of other cities around the world. Last month, BYD and Uzbekistan signed an investment agreement to build a factory for NEVs in the country. Globally, China has become the world's biggest auto exporter and 60 percent of the world's total NEVs are produced and sold in China. 

The rapid rise of China's NEV sector globally is a microcosm of the success of China's industrial upgrade and high-quality development. Recently, as some indicators fell short of sky-high expectations for China's economic recovery this year, some Western officials and media outlets continue to relentlessly hype up the short-term fluctuations in an attempt to smear the Chinese economy. However, such smear completely ignores the achievement of China's industrial upgrade and its pursuit of high-quality development - which has not only seen major progress but also shown vast potential for long-term, sustainable growth that will contribute greatly for the world economy, Chinese officials and economists said. 

Still, China's NEV industry did not rise to its global leading position without a lot of hard work and focus. Industrial transformation and upgrade often come with pain. At a ceremony marking the production of the 5 millionth NEV, Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD, choked up a few times, as he recalled the hardships the company has faced over the years, including facing bankruptcy at one point. BYD is hardly the only Chinese company that has faced and ultimately overcome such hardships. 

SAIC Volkswagen, a Chinese-German joint venture, represents a typical case. The company had been the industry leader for years in the field of fossil fuel cars. But in 2018, as sales of traditional fossil fuel cars plunged, China's auto industry saw its first ever negative growth, and SAIC also saw major drops in sales and profits. The company started its transition toward NEVs.

"Market choice has pointed toward a clear path. Even if there will be pain, we must closely follow the NEV trend," an executive from SAIC was quoted as saying by the People's Daily.

With that, the company shut down a 40-year-old factory, and invested 17 billion yuan in building a new plant that can produce 300,000 NEVs annually. The company also stepped up spending in research and development (R&D), with industry leading investment despite financial challenges. The result: Starting in July, sales of the company's ID NEVs surpassed 10,000 units for two consecutive months, leading sales of other NEVs produced by joint ventures. And the company continues to invest heavily in NEVs in the second half of 2023. 

Such successful stories of transformation are shared by many other Chinese carmakers. Together, they represent the rise of China's auto industry, with leading production, sales as well as innovations. And the rise of China's industry also reflects China's overall industrial transformation and upgrade, which often encounters challenges but ultimately translates into high-quality development - the central goal of the Chinese economy. 

In a speech at a reception to celebrate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on September 28, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that to achieve high-quality development, the country must fully and faithfully implement the new development philosophy in all aspects, and accelerate the development of a new development paradigm. Xi also pointed out that the economic recovery is picking up pace, contributing to the steady advancement of high-quality development, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Comprehensive view on GDP 

In the first half of 2023, China's GDP grew by 5.5 percent, prompting many speculations and even dire predictions about the Chinese economy.

Is such a growth rate high or low? To answer this question, a comprehensive look at the new addition and the quality of growth, instead of just speed, is necessary. 

"As the world's second-largest economy, a 1 percent growth today is vastly different from that of the past in terms of absolute increment," said Wang Xiaosong, a professor of economics at Renmin University of China in Beijing. In 2022, China's GDP stood at about $18 trillion, the increment from a 1 percent growth rate is equivalent to that of 2.1 percent growth rate 10 years ago - and that of 5.3 percent growth rate in India. 

Moreover, a 5.5 percent growth rate is faster the 3 percent growth rate in 2022 and the 4.5 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2023 and is the fastest growth rate among major economies. The growth rate is also in line with China's official growth target of about 5 percent in 2023. While many had expected a restorative economic recovery in China, the fact is that over the past three years, the global economy has been deeply troubled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the still ongoing Ukraine crisis. Like the world economy, China's economy also goes through a recovery process and a 5.5 percent growth rate is hard-won.

"You can't expect an athlete to break the 100-meter sprint record, while his body is still recovering," said Wang Changlin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the People's Daily.

In terms of quality, the 5.5 percent growth rate in the first half of 2023 was led by consumption and investment, instead of investment and exports in 2022. It was also driven by innovation and new growth models. In the first half of the year, the added value of information transmission, software and information technology services jumped by 12.9 percent, while online retail sales of physical goods grew by 10.8 percent. The real growth rate of per capita disposable income of residents across the country was 5.8 percent, significantly faster than that of 2022. China has not just achieved stable growth but also ensured the security of food, energy and industrial and supply chains. 

"One of the highlights of China's economy this year is that the security and sustainability of economic development have been significantly enhanced," Wang Xiaosong said, noting that China's economy is currently very resilient and will continue to maintain the healthy and stable growth.

While some headline figures for areas such as exports, investment, employment and corporate profits were less than impressive, there are also many highlights. In the first half of the year, China's exports to countries participating in the joint construction of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative saw a double-digit growth, combined exports of NEVs, lithium batteries and solar cells jumped by 61.6 percent. In the first eight months, China's auto exports soared 104.4 percent, and ship exports increased by 28 percent. 

"With the continued effect of a series of policy measures, we have the confidence, foundation and conditions to achieve the goal of promoting stability and improving the quality of imports and exports," said Lü Daliang, a spokesperson with the General Administration of Customs, during a press conference in July. 

In terms of investment, in the first half of the year, total fixed-asset investment increased by 3.8 percent year-on-year, with private investment dropping 0.2 percent. However, excluding real estate investment, private investment jumped by 9.4 percent during the same period. China has also taken a slew of measures to stabilize the real estate market. 

Vast potential

"Based on international experience, after an economy reaches a certain scale, industrial upgrading and transformation and development are generally accompanied by short-term slowdown. While accelerating structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, China's economy has achieved effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth, which is extremely difficult," Yang Changyong, a senior researcher from the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, told the People's Daily. 

Yang said that the Chinese economy can make new breakthroughs and reach new heights if the advantages of the vast domestic consumption are fully leveraged, greater efforts are made in adjusting growth models and structures and boosting growth engines, and a powerful and resilient domestic economy is established. 

China also has the institutional advantage of being a socialist market economy, sufficient macro policy tools and adjustment room, and abundant means and measures to prevent and tackle risks, which ensures long-term stability of the Chinese economy despite challenges, according to Wang Changlin.

The bright prospect of China's high-quality development is also reflected in the steadfast efforts by companies such as BYD and SAIC Volkswagen to transform and innovate. With their advanced technologies and high-quality products reaching every corner of the globe, the world will feel and benefit from China's high-quality development. 

Wu Qiuyu, Zhao Zhanhui and Liu Shiyao are People's Daily reporters; Wang Cong is a Global Times reporter.

Construction on China's first deep-sea multi-functional scientific investigation and cultural relic archaeological vessel officially began in Nansha, Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Sunday. The ship is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2025, CCTV reported on Monday.

According to the report, the ship has a total design length of approximately 103 meters, a designed displacement of approximately 9,200 tons, a maximum speed of 29.63 kilometers per hour, a reach of 15,000 nautical miles, and can accommodate up to 80 crew members. 

The vessel is a new type of multi-functional scientific research vessel capable of conducting deep-sea scientific investigations and cultural relic excavations, as well as polar sea area investigations in summer. 

The ship has a number of iconic features, including unrestricted waterway navigation, manned diving, deep-sea detection and heavy-duty safety payload capabilities, providing the necessary sample and environmental data for forefront geological, environmental, and biological sciences research in the deep and remote ocean. 

It also provides related discipline guidance and underwater operations support for deep-sea archaeology, while supporting sea trial and use of core deep-sea equipment.

In the future, the vessel will become an open and shared maritime platform for multi-system integration, interdisciplinary crossover, and collaborative innovation in China, which is of great significance for strengthening China's substantial presence in the global deep-sea research, enhancing China's deep-sea archaeological capabilities, and realizing full-scale access to the global deep sea.

Song Jianzhong, a researcher at the National Centre for Archaeology, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the ship would provide solid support for Chinese deep-sea archaeology.

Two ancient ships carrying numerous cultural relics were discovered in October 2022 in the South China Sea at a depth of about 1,500 meters, and are currently undergoing excavation work. 

He Guangwei, deputy chief engineer at the Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited, stated that there is currently no ship in China capable of conducting manned deep-sea scientific investigations in polar regions. The construction of this vessel will fill this gap.

This ship is designed to conduct manned deep-sea scientific investigations in polar regions while also being able to carry out cultural relic archaeology and operations in the South China Sea. The ship has many key technologies, including icebreaking capabilities and anti-freezing materials for polar environments, and related operating and detecting equipment for scientific investigations in polar regions.

Twenty-one people have died and another six are missing as of Sunday evening after heavy rainfall hit Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, and caused mountain floods and mudslides on Friday evening. 

Due to the impact of short-duration heavy rain, mountain floods and mudslides struck a village in Chang’an district in Xi’an around 6 pm on Friday. The disaster has damaged two houses occupying a total area of 300 square meters, destroyed three sections and slightly damaged 21 sections on the National Highway 210, damaged three electric power supply infrastructures and left 900 households out of power, according to Xi’an Bureau of Emergency Management. 

Xi’an city immediately set up an on-site command center, organized a total of 14 rescue teams including firefighting and police departments with more than 980 personnel, and deployed over 1,100 units of equipment and tools including life detectors, satellite phones, excavators, and search and rescue dogs, working around the clock to carry out search and rescue as well as disaster relief operations.

As of Sunday evening, 186 residents have been relocated and resettled, three severely damaged sections of the National Highway 210 have been restored, 21 slightly damaged road sections are under reinforcement, communication services have been restored in 49 affected areas, and power supply has been restored to 855 households.

The city is making every effort to seize the critical period for rescue operations, continuing to search for missing individuals restlessly, as well as remove risks to prevent the occurrence of secondary disasters.  

Preliminary investigations showed that two houses in the village were washed away, a with nearby roads, bridges, power supplies and other infrastructures damaged, leaving local residents partially cut off with the outside world. 

Local media reported that as of Sunday Morning, four people had been confirmed dead, while 14 others remain missing. 

The Xi'an detachment of the armed police force in Shaanxi deployed more than 100 personnel to the impacted area. Preliminary search and rescue operations remain underway. 

As of Sunday morning, rescue forces have transferred 81 residents and 11 vehicles to safe locations, and are assisting with the search and recovery of four deceased villagers, with emergency workers scanning an area 65 kilometers in length along a nearby river.  

According to a local villager surnamed Li (pseudonym), flooding and mudslides began following one or two hours of heavy rain on Friday afternoon. Two dwellings swept away by flood waters operated agritourism business, but there was yet to be confirmation whether guests were inside during flooding. 

Local fire department, police and emergency management authorities are working to coordinate rescue efforts. 

Upon receiving the report, China's Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a working group to the disaster site to assist with rescue and response efforts and have also mobilized a local fire and rescue team consisting of 207 personnel to carry out rescue operations.

A fossil from a new species of dinosaur is helping to bridge a crucial 20-million-year gap in tyrannosaur evolution.

The key fossil is a 90-million-year-old, grapefruit-sized partial skull from Uzbekistan’s Bissekty Formation. This tyrannosaur braincase, the first well-preserved one found from the mid-Cretaceous period, shows that, although still small, tyrannosaurs of the time already had brain and ear features of later tyrannosaurs. Researchers have dubbed the in-betweener Timurlengia euotica, meaning “well-eared.” They describe the new species in a paper to appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The braincase sheds light on a long-standing mystery: how tyrannosaurs evolved in the gap from 100 million to 80 million years ago from an “average Joe” horse-sized predator in the Early Cretaceous to the huge apex predators they became in the Late Cretaceous. “Our study is the first to show that the sophisticated brain and hearing of big tyrannosaurs evolved in smaller-bodied species, long before tyrannosaurs got giant,” says study coauthor Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh. These advantages, he adds, may have helped tyrannosaurs become such successful — and eventually enormous — predators.
Analyzed against a database of other tyrannosaur skulls, the braincase shows that Timurlengia’s brain and ear “are almost identical to T. rex, just smaller,” Brusatte says. In particular, the dinosaur’s long cochlea, a part of the inner ear, is a signature of bigger, badder Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurs. “The long cochlea would have meant better sensitivity to low-frequency sound,” Brusatte explains. That sensitivity would have enabled Timurlengia to detect very subtle or distant sounds, giving the dinosaur clear advantages over other predators.

“Timurlengia fills an important gap in both time and evolution,” says Lawrence Witmer, a paleontologist at Ohio University in Athens who was not involved in the study. “Charles Darwin couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

The next step is to determine if the braincase is typical of a mid-Cretaceous tyrannosaur, or just one oddball data point. “We’ve analyzed the heck out of each scrap of Bissekty tyrannosaur bone,” Brusatte says, “so the thing that could move us forward is the discovery of new specimens in other middle Cretaceous rock units in other parts of the world.”

The mysteries of the Zika virus are slowly but surely succumbing to the scientific method. Last week, scientists revealed the virus’ structure, gleaned further insight into its ties to the birth defect microcephaly and found out just how little some people seem to know about Zika. Public health researchers at Harvard University released the results of a poll related to Zika awareness on March 29, and lots of respondents flunked. In a survey of 1,275 adults, 23 percent were unaware of Zika’s association with microcephaly and 42 percent did not know the virus could be transmitted sexually.

The survey highlights some general confusion about the facts of Zika, and the latest new tidbits show how quickly researchers are learning new things about this virus. So, let’s take a look at what people are saying about Zika and set the record straight .

Yes, in the case of microcephaly, Zika looks very, very guilty. No, pesticides and vaccines do not cause microcephaly.
A few different things, including viruses, can cause microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies have abnormally small heads and brain damage, as Meghan Rosen notes in the April 2 Science News. At the moment, there’s no smoking gun to convict Zika as the perpetrator behind Brazil’s uptick in microcephaly, but it’s not looking good for the virus. In Brazil, more microcephaly cases have appeared in places with more Zika cases. Zika has also been detected in the amniotic fluid, placenta and brain tissue of fetuses with microcephaly. It attacks specific cells related to fetal development. Zika infection during pregnancy has been linked to miscarriages and placental problems, plus other neurological conditions, including the rare autoimmune disease Guillain-Barré syndrome.

WHO officials noted in their March 31 situation report: “Based on observational, cohort and case-control studies there is strong scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of [Guillain-Barré syndrome], microcephaly and other neurological disorders.”

The evidence against other suspects is much less compelling. Still, a report by a group in Argentina calling themselves “Physicians Against Fumigated Towns” sent the Internet into a tizzy in February with the claim that the larvicide pyriproxyfen, not Zika, was to blame for microcephaly cases. The WHO has since reviewed toxicology studies and widespread use of the pesticide and found no evidence that the chemical interfered with human pregnancy or development. Similar rumors that vaccines or genetically modified mosquitoes caused Brazil’s microcephaly uptick simply lack any evidence, the WHO says.
Yes, you can get Zika by having sex with an infected person.
Though Aedes mosquitoes serve as the primary vector for Zika, researchers have had suspicions for a while that Zika could be sexually transmitted. In 2008, a U.S. researcher developed Zika infection symptoms after returning home from studying mosquitoes in Senegal and transmitted the virus to his wife through sex. This was the first documented sexually transmitted case of Zika.

Since then, more sexually transmitted cases have emerged in the U.S., as well as in Italy, France, Argentina, Chile and New Zealand. Thus far, only men have transmitted the virus, and whether women can also transmit the virus to their sexual partners is unknown. Researchers suspect that the virus may linger longer in semen than in blood — another potential source of transmission currently being investigated. (On March 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a screening test for Zika in blood donatons.) To prevent the spread of Zika between sexual partners, the CDC recommends the usual precautions.

No, there’s no vaccine for Zika, but people are working on it.
There is currently no vaccine against Zika, and vaccines against other viruses from the same family, like yellow fever, do not offer protection against Zika. That said, concern over Zika’s link to neurological disorders and growing case counts in the Americas has jump-started efforts to develop a vaccine. The idea of a chimeric vaccine that could combat Zika and other related viruses like dengue is an attractive research prospect. On March 31, a team reported the virus’ structure in Science, providing potential clues for vaccine development.

Sometimes Zika symptoms are obvious. Sometimes they’re not.
Only 20 percent of the people who get Zika actually notice symptoms. When they do, those symptoms include fever, rash, sore joints, pink eye and muscle pain. Sometimes Zika cases look a lot like dengue and chikungunya — meaning there’s potential for misdiagnosis.

No, sterilized mosquitoes do not increase the spread of Zika. In fact, they could help fight it.
There’s no evidence that sterilized mosquitoes aid and abet the spread of the virus. Some researchers would actually argue that they are our best chance of stopping it, Susan Milius notes in the April 2 Science News. Sterilization, by zapping males with radiation or genetically tweaking them, could reduce and theoretically wipe out a mosquito population. Meanwhile, gene drives likes CRISPR/Cas9 seem poised to make genetic sterilization methods a lot easier, too. Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria also cuts bloodsucker populations. If all else fails, El Salvador is using the tried and true method of deploying fish to eat all the larvae in mosquito breeding ponds. It goes without saying, but none of these control methods actually aid the spread of Zika.