More than 181,000 visitors from the Chinese mainland entered Hong Kong on Wednesday, the first day of the five-day May Day holidays, surpassing numbers for  the same period in 2023, data from the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government revealed.

About 468,000 people entered the city on Wednesday. Among them, visitors from the Chinese mainland numbered over 181,000, it said.

Departures from Hong Kong totaled around 340,000 people, with nearly 60 percent being residents of the city. Despite the single-day holiday, many residents in Hong Kong opted to travel out of the city for leisure.

The Immigration Department previously estimated that passenger arrivals and departures will total 5.9 million from Tuesday to Sunday, among which more than 800,000 trips will be made by tourists from the Chinese mainland. 

Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said that the number of visitors from the Chines mainland on Wednesday was satisfactory, similar to last year's figures, with hotel occupancy rates being at strong levels, reported the Chinese News Service.

He said that the numbers could have been higher if not for weather conditions. Chu noted that he learned some visitors came to Hong Kong to witness fireworks displays, which he believed was influenced by the promotional efforts of the government on social media platforms.

Starting at 8 pm on Wednesday, the 10-minute display blended in with the night view of the Victoria Harbor and is accompanied by a light and music show. The gold-toned fireworks were set off from a boat 130 meters offshore.

Many tourists and Hong Kong residents had arrived three hours early for the show to find the perfect viewing spot despite the drizzles throughout the day, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

"I anticipate the fireworks the most for my four-day Hong Kong tour this Labor Day holiday,"said a tourist surnamed Lu from South China's Guangdong Province.

In addition, in preparation for the May Day holidays, which last from Wednesday to Sunday in the Chinese mainland this year, the Hong Kong Tourism Board announced that 16,000 travel vouchers would be distributed free of charge to individual travelers from Xi'an and Qingdao, which could be used at more than 100 premium Hong Kong brands and 2,000 shopping outlets. 

Citizens in Xi'an and Qingdao have been eligible to visit the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions on an individual basis starting from March 6.

The Tourism Industry Council of Hong Kong estimated a 50% increase in visitors from these two cities following the opening of individual travel arrangements, the China News Service reported.

On April 23, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu stated that Hong Kong government had made comprehensive preparations for the May Day holidays, estimating that there would be at least 800,000 mainland visitors and around 5.9 million people passing through various immigration control points.

Lee noted that many operators in the service industry have developed promotional plans and experiential activities, aiming to provide a positive experience for travelers in dining, shopping and other aspects, with the hope of promoting Hong Kong even after their return home, media outlet ifeng reported .

According to CCTV, citing words from the Ministry of Transport, it's expected that there will be a total inter-regional population movement of 280 million people, a 15.9 percent increase compared with the same period in 2019 on Wednesday. 

Railway passenger volume is expected to reach 20.4 million, while inter-regional road traffic is projected to hit 257 million. Waterway passenger traffic is estimated at 900,000, with civil aviation passenger volume forecasted at 2.11 million. 

As in previous years, during this year's May Day holidays, small passenger cars with seven seats or fewer will continue to enjoy toll-free passage on highways. 

Additionally, many tourist attractions in various cities will implement policies of free or reduced admission during the May Day period. Viral videos online showed that across China, people are packed in railways stations, tourist attractions and even less-popular traveling cities.

The China-Russia Expo, the highest-level and most extensive exhibition hosted by the two countries, has become a major platform for fostering industrial partnerships, and a pivotal avenue for local collaborative initiatives, said an official from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) during a press conference on Monday, while also pledging to facilitate and intensify bilateral trade ties and regional cooperation in the future.

The remarks were made in anticipation of the upcoming 8th China-Russia Expo. As part of the 75th-anniversary celebrations of China-Russia diplomatic relations, the six-day event will be held in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province from May 16 to 21, coinciding with the 33rd China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair. 

With a theme of "cooperation, trust, and opportunities," the expo will focus on various sectors such as cultural tourism, high-tech equipment, traditional and alternative energy, finance, and education among others, aiming to foster comprehensive, multi-faceted, and profound exchanges and collaborations between the two countries, said a local official from Heilongjiang.

This year's expo is expected to achieve records in both scale and influence. Russian exhibitors will comprise 137 companies, occupying a record-breaking 3,267 square meters of exhibition space. Additionally, 1,246 companies from 21 provinces, regions, and municipalities across China will participate, showcasing the tangible implementation of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, according to local media reports.

Since it was inaugurated in 2014, the expo has attracted over 7,200 Chinese-Russian companies and 10.05 million attendees, resulting in deals worth 446.8 billion yuan ($61.99 billion) across various sectors. Over the past decade, the expo's features have gradually shifted from traditional sectors such as energy, minerals, and mechanical electronics to emerging sectors including medical devices, the digital economy and new energy, said Liu Xuesong, director of the Department of Eurasia Affairs at MOFCOM.

Under the new paradigm of China-Russia relations, economic and trade cooperation between the two sides has made significant strides in recent years. In the first quarter of 2024, the bilateral trade volume was $56.68 billion, up by 5.2 percent year-on-year, maintaining an upward trajectory. Moreover, the trade structure continues to improve, with increasing ties in emerging areas such as services trade and cross-border e-commerce, according to official data.

Looking ahead, Liu pledged at the press conference to further enhance China-Russia trade and investment cooperation, bolster the resilience of industrial supply chains, and elevate the facilitation and liberalization of bilateral and regional ties, in a bid to foster a favorable policy environment for expanding bilateral trade.

The China-Russia Expo is jointly hosted by China's MOFCOM, the Heilongjiang provincial government, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, and its Ministry of Industry and Trade. The 7th expo was held from July 10 to 13 last year in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 

US payment company Mastercard's Chinese joint venture (JV) opened for business on Thursday, after the People's Bank of China approved the arrangement for the bank card clearing operations in November 2023.

The opening marks Mastercard as the second overseas bank card clearing institution to enter the Chinese market, after American Express in 2020, which industry analysts said demonstrates the country's determination to open wider to the outside world in the financial sector.

The move is conducive to promoting a more open and internationalized development of China's payment and clearing services, providing diversified and differentiated services for all parties in finance, as well as deepening the supply-side structural reform of the payment industry, analysts noted.

In2023, China's central bank and the National Financial Regulatory Administration approved an application by Mastercard NetsUnion Information Technology (Beijing) Co, a JV between Mastercard and NetsUnion Clearing Corp, to conduct bank card clearing operations in the country. 

According to the official Mastercard website, its Chinese JV has begun processing payments made in China with Mastercard cards issued by the country's banks. In addition, the JV confirmed that Mastercard-branded cards will now be accepted for both domestic and international purchases.

"This is another significant milestone for Mastercard... Our goal is to simplify the payments experience for China's Mastercard cardholders both at home and overseas," Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, was quoted in a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday. 

"To offer more choices and deliver greater value for Chinese consumers and businesses of all sizes, we will expand the availability of Mastercard-branded products, facilitate the addition of millions of new acceptance locations across the country, and deliver seamless and safe payments experiences every day," said Ling Hai, chairman of the board of Mastercard NetsUnion and president of Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa for Mastercard.

The JV reinforced its commitment to continue providing comprehensive support for Mastercard NetsUnion's operations, under the guidance and support of Chinese regulators. 

To facilitate seamless, secure payments for Chinese cardholders at home and overseas, Mastercard NetsUnion will collaborate with local acquirers to expand its acceptance network in China, bolstering its extensive network of more than 130 million acceptance locations worldwide, according to the statement.

Clearing agencies want to operate in China because of the huge demand for cross-border payments with the externally oriented character of its economy. High-quality opening-up is creating the conditions for these clearing agencies to conduct business in the country, economist Pan Helin told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The establishment of JV clearing agencies is a notable sign of the opening-up of the financial market. It has not only allowed the entry of foreign capital, but also facilitated exchanges of technology and knowledge, all of which are direct results of the opening-up policy," said Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

In addition to providing consumers and businesses with a wider choice of financial services and products, Wang told the Global Times that the move is also an important step in the internationalization of China's financial market, as cooperation with internationally recognized financial institutions helps the country's banking industry introduce advanced technology and management practices.

"China's banking industry needs to cooperate with foreign clearing organizations to develop overseas business, in order to expand its incremental banking business," Pan noted.

Mastercard's move to boost its presence in the Chinese market has debunked Western claims of foreign capital leaving China, analysts said.

"The active participation of foreign organizations in China demonstrates their long-term optimism in the world's second-largest economy's development. This confidence stems from the huge potential of the Chinese market, including a large consumer base and growing economic strength," Wang said.

Guo Tingting, a vice commerce minister, said that the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in the first quarter of this year came at 12,000, an increase of 20.7 percent year-on-year, maintaining the rapid growth trend of last year.

In terms of investment scale, the actual use of foreign capital reached 301.67 billion yuan ($41.67 billion), a record high, the vice minister said.

With its continued financial market opening-up, China, which has the world's largest banking system and the second-largest insurance, stock and bond markets, is creating broad opportunities for global financial institutions, Wang noted.

China has implemented more than 50 financial opening-up measures in recent years, including eliminating foreign ownership limitations in the banking and insurance sectors and lowering access criteria for foreign investors.

The Chinese central government announced on Saturday a new policy that allows travelers from eight more cities in the Chinese mainland to visit the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as individuals. 

The move was strongly welcomed by both officials in the HKSAR and visitors from the mainland cities.

Pang Yiu-Kai, chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), welcomed the move, saying that the latest expansion is a "gift" for the sector, and Beijing's decision to update the program twice in three months reflected its "full support and confidence" in Hong Kong's development, according to the South China Morning Post.

The HKTB will roll out some "large-scale events" and step up promotions in the mainland cities and invite tourism representatives to come to Hong Kong, Pang said. 

With the addition of the eight cities, the number of applicable mainland cities under the "Individual Travel" plan will increase from 51 to 59. The added cities are Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Lhasa and Xining.

Experts said that with more and more mainland cities opening up for individual travel, Hong Kong will attract more tourists from the broader mainland market. Closer exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland will inject new vitality into the local tourism industry.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee expressed his gratitude with regard to the central government's care for Hong Kong and its support for Hong Kong's advance from stability to prosperity, according to the website of the HKSAR government.

Lee noted that various measures have been rolled out this year to support and benefit Hong Kong. The latest move will boost tourism and the economic development of Hong Kong, and facilitate people-to-people bonds between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway welcomed the addition of the new cities and said it was dedicated to providing high-quality, convenient cross-boundary services.

This new arrangement will attract more mainland tourists to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's overall economic development will benefit from the tourism boom, Yang Yong, deputy director of the College of Economics and Management at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The surge in Hong Kong's inbound tourism was a key factor driving the city's economic growth, Yang noted.

About 766,000 visitors from the mainland visited the city during the just-concluded May Day holidays, which ran from May 1 to 5. 

The city recorded an increase of 22 percent in passenger trips compared with the same period last year, a spokesperson for the HKSAR said on May 6.

The Japanese yen hit a 34-year low against the dollar on Monday, but the weak currency has turned Japan into a shopping paradise, with a large number of international tourists flocking to the country to take advantage.

Among the tourists, wealthy Chinese shoppers have been splashing out on luxury items in Japan.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Japanese yen briefly dropped to a new 34-year low of 160 yen to the US dollar on foreign exchange markets on Monday morning. This marked the first time since April 1990 that the US dollar has topped the 160-yen line.

With the continuous depreciation of the yen, the prices of some high-end products in Japan have become much lower than in China, attracting a large number of tourists looking to score some great deals.

Data that Chinese travel platform Qunar sent to the Global Times on Monday shows that as of Sunday, Tokyo and Osaka ranked second and third respectively in terms of searches on the platform, following Bangkok. The search index for Tokyo increased by 207 percent year-on-year, while for Osaka it increased by 172 percent. Hotel bookings in Japan for the upcoming May Day holidays have increased by 3.5 times compared to 2023 on the platform.

A Chinese tourist surnamed Chen who just came back from Japan on Sunday told the Global Times that the major shopping malls were filled with Chinese people.

"If you didn't know any better, you would think you were in a mall in China. Especially at the LV counter, there were long lines outside," Chen said.

For example, an Onthego small handbag from LV costs 25,600 yuan ($3,533.8) in China, but only 47,520 yen in Japan, which is about 21,753 yuan. Therefore, Chinese customers can save nearly 4,000 yuan.

The depreciation of the yen has also led to a surge in demand for the surrogate shopping business, known as daigou, with some shopping agents estimating they can earn up to 10,000 yuan on a trip to Japan.

A daigou shopper surnamed Sun said this has been her busiest time in many years. Sun said she had received 50 orders during the last few weeks. "They asked me to buy them products including luxury handbags, game consoles, cameras, and cosmetics," Sun added.

According to Sun, buying items in Japan is very cost-effective given the high markups in China for goods such as handbags and cameras. She charges a 10 percent shopping fee, so a 20,000-yuan bag can earn her 2,000 yuan.

Although there are risks involved with daigou, such as people only being able to bring back one bag per person and having to remove the tags to avoid customs taxes, the business is still popular.

According to multiple posts on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, which compares prices between luxury handbags in Japan and China, Louis Vuitton's Carryall takes the top spot for the biggest price differential.

The South China Morning Post reported on Monday about the first-quarter results for LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Overall revenue in Asia, which is dominated by the Chinese market, has declined by 6 percent, but in Japan sales have surged 32 percent.

The report said that global sales of fashion and leather goods - LVMH's biggest business - to Chinese customers in their home market and abroad rose 10 percent, indicating that spending by Chinese tourists overseas helped offset weak sales at home. A large portion of their spending abroad was in Japan.

The Global Times found on Xiaohongshu that there have been many posts searching for or offering personal daigou services in Japan during the upcoming May Day holidays.

The plunge in the yen has also increased the appeal of Japanese commercial property.

The Global Times learnt that many Chinese investors are eyeing residential properties, including those in the Tokyo Olympic Village.

However, the depreciation of the yen also creates some problems. It may exacerbate the deflation issue in Japan, and excessive dependence on overseas tourists' consumption may expose the Japanese economy to external risks, according to insiders.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday that talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to China were "candid, substantive and constructive."

During a courtesy meeting with Blinken on Friday afternoon, Chinese President Xi Jinping elaborated on China's authoritative position on China-US relations and proposed guidance, said Yang Tao, director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the China's Foreign Ministry, while briefing the media on Blinken's visit on Friday evening.

Yang said the Chinese side refuted the so-called "overcapacity" in China narrative claimed by the US, calling it another example of US' protectionism and suppression of China's development. It also pointed out that the recent escalation of the situation in the South China Sea is inseparable from the intervention of the US.

Xi pointed out that China and the US should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences rather than engage in vicious competition; and honor words with actions rather than say one thing but do another, Yang said.

Xi also stressed that China is not afraid of competition, but competition should be about progressing together instead of playing a zero-sum game. China is committed to non-alliance, and the US should not create small blocs, Yang said.

During the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which lasted for five and a half hours, the Chinese and US officials exchanged in-depth views on China-US relations and international and regional affairs. Wang clarified China's position on major issues involving China's core concerns such as strategic perception, the Taiwan question, economic and technological issues, the South China Sea, and the US' 'Indo-Pacific Strategy', Yang told a group of reporters.

On Friday, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong also met with Blinken, exchanging views on anti-drug law enforcement cooperation between China and US. Chen Jining, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, met with Blinken on Thursday in Shanghai.

Strategic perception, namely whether China and the US are partners or adversaries, is the fundamental issue of China-US relations and is also a topic discussed by both sides on every occasion, including this one, Yang said.

The logic of great power rivalry and the zero-sum thinking of the Cold War are not in China's DNA, nor are they China's way of behavior. China welcomes a confident, open, and prosperous US and hopes that the US side can also view China's development positively.

And the Taiwan question is the "first red line" that must not be crossed in China-US relations, Yang said. China firmly opposes the series of wrong words and deeds by the US on the question.

China emphasizes that if the US truly hopes for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, it should faithfully abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, refrain from sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces in any way, stop arming Taiwan, and support China's peaceful reunification.

On economic and trade issue, China clearly demands that the US stop hyping up the so-called "overcapacity" in China false narrative, revoke illegal sanctions against Chinese companies, and stop imposing 301 tariffs that violate WTO rules.

On the South China Sea issue, Yang said China has sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including Ren'ai Jiao (Ren'ai Reef), with full historical and legal basis. China has always abided by international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and no country can attempt to challenge China's legitimate rights and interests through illegal arbitration.

The reasons for the current situation in Ren'ai Jiao are clear. The Philippines first violated its commitments by refusing to tow away the illegally grounded warship for 25 years, and then repeatedly violated the "gentleman's agreement" and internal understanding reached with China, willfully infringed and provoked, and attempted to conduct large-scale repairs and reinforcement to achieve permanent occupation of Ren'ai Jiao.

The Philippines' actions seriously violate Article 5 of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea reached between China and ASEAN countries, Yang said.

And the recent escalation of the situation in the South China Sea is inseparable from US' intervention. The US frequently threatens with the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," which seriously violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and seriously undermines regional peace and stability. If the US wants to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, it should stop fanning flames and inciting confrontation, the Chinese diplomat said.

Regarding the so-called "overcapacity" in China, Yang said China's advantages in areas such as new-energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products are not the result of subsidies from the Chinese government, but the result of global market demand, technological innovation, and full competition.

The so-called "overcapacity" claimed by the US is not a conclusion under market definitions but a false narrative created artificially, which is another example of US' protectionism and suppression of China's development.

Perhaps what is "excessive" is not China's production capacity but the anxiety of the US, Yang said.

If we talk about non-market behaviors and unfair competition, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the US in the past two years not only clearly state subsidies but also contain exclusive and discriminatory provisions. Is this market behavior? Yang asked.

"The US has also imposed illegal sanctions on more than 1,500 Chinese entities and individuals under various pretexts. Is this fair competition?" Yang said.

On the Ukraine crisis, Yang said the Chinese side has made it clear that China is neither the creator of the Ukraine crisis nor a party to it and has not done anything to fan the flames or take advantage of the situation.

The US should stop smearing and pressuring China and stop imposing unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies, he noted.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for building world-class military medical universities, stressing that they should serve the battlefield and troops, and embrace the future.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection at the Army Medical University on Tuesday.

China released the world's first set of high-precision geological maps of the moon drawn by China's scientific research team on Sunday, mainly based on scientific exploration data from the Chang'e Project.

The highest precision geological atlas of the whole moon, with a scale of 1:2.5 million, can visualize the craters on the lunar surface, rocks and minerals found on the satellite of the Earth, and what kind of geological activity the moon has experienced.

As the internationally used geological maps of the moon obtained by the Apollo program of the US cannot reflect the latest research results of mankind in recent decades, they are no longer able to meet the needs of future scientific research and lunar exploration, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Liu Jianzhong, a researcher at the Institute of Geochemistry of the CAS, said that among previous geologic maps, only maps of localized areas were of high accuracy, and the scale accuracy of these maps covering the entire moon was 1:5 million, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

"The Chang'e Project has played a crucial role on the production of the atlas, " Wang Yanan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times. 

"In the past, when human-being couldn't land on the moon, we observed the satellite through telescopes, but the range that could be observed was limited due to the distance. However, the advent of probes, whether circumlunar probes or probes capable of soft landing, has actually shortened this distance," said Wang.

Wang also said that the atlas is a collection of the results of the previous phase of China's scientific exploration of the moon.

"Developing this atlas not only has to have well-tested means and equipment to collect accurate data and achieve the precision, but it also has to ensure the probe to have a full range of exploration and coverage," Wang said. "The collection of atlas shows that the scope of China's lunar exploration is very broad and our data collection accuracy has reached a good level."

The atlas contains a geological map of the entire moon, a map of the distribution of rock types throughout the moon, an outline of lunar tectonics, and 30 standardized sub-schematic geological maps of the moon.

On the main map, a total of 12,341 impact craters and 81 impact basins can be seen on  the moon, and 17 rock types and 14 types of tectonics can be identified. Some special elements including landing sites of human probes are also shown in the atlas.

Since 2012, Ouyang Ziyuan, the first chief scientist of China's lunar exploration program, put forward the idea of compiling and researching a new geological map of the moon, a team of researchers from different organizations in China have been working on it for more than 10 years.

According to the CAS, the atlas can not only provide basic information and scientific reference for the formulation of scientific objectives and the implementation of the lunar exploration project, but also fill the gaps in China's compilation and research of geological maps of the moon and exoplanets.

Wang said that the release of the atlas represents a form of information sharing and support for all countries interested or involved in lunar exploration.

The maps have been integrated into the digital lunar cloud platform built by Chinese scientists, Liu said. Scientists will also compile higher-precision lunar geological maps to further serve lunar scientific research, science education and China's lunar exploration project in the future.

Chinese Central Bank Governor Pan Gongsheng met with US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in Washington on Wednesday (US time), exchanging views on the economic developments in China and the US, monetary policies, financial stability and other topics.

China has achieved a significant milestone by utilizing a bionic submersible to monitor coral reef growth in the South China Sea, which marks a technological breakthrough in the application of bionic underwater equipment, according to media reports on Monday.

The achievement was spearheaded by a team from the School of Marine Science and Technology at the Northwestern Polytechnical University, China Central Television reported. They developed a biomimetic soft-bodied submersible shaped like a manta ray.

The team has been researching the bionic submersible since 2016, breaking through key technologies such as bionic fluid shape optimization design and the fluid-structure coupling simulation of pectoral fin flapping, integrated propulsion design with sliding and flapping during motion, and smooth switching control of high-similarity multimodal motion.

The team is focusing on coral growth and the settlement of island reef foundations in the South China Sea, and has launched the latest developed 30kg and 720kg types of biomimetic manta ray soft-body diving robots, thus establishing a lineage of bionic intelligent diving robots ranging from flexible small-scale to functional large-scale.

Currently, the submersible has carried out a variety of tasks such as long-distance gliding, wide-area or fixed-depth or stationary hydrological fine collection, and replacement protection of rare animals in marine aquariums. It has completed over 200 operations, achieving a technological breakthrough in the practical application of biomimetic underwater equipment in China.