The Sanxingdui Museum is currently showcasing four new exquisite cultural relics - a bronze basin, a bronze round ornament, a bronze bird, and a bronze kneeling figure holding a zun, as announced by the Sanxingdui Museum's official WeChat account on November 8.
The newly introduced bronze bird is referred to as the "Angel with Broken Wings" due to its appearance, giving the impression that it is poised to take off and soar into the sky despite its damaged wings. The bronze basin, discovered in the No.3 hall of the Sanxingdui Ruins, has a shape similar to a contemporary basin. However, casting a bronze basin is an exceptionally heavy and labor-intensive process, and meticulous work is required to fold the rim of the basin into a wave-like shape. Further details regarding the use of the basin are yet to be disclosed. The bronze round ornament resembles an owl gazing at the sky. The bronze plaque features a hole on each of its four sides and might have been worn as a decoration, according to the Sanxingdui Museum. Another highlight is the new bronze kneeling figure holding a zun, a type of ancient wine vessel, which shares similarities with a previously exhibited bronze placed on a large bronze altar in another hall after the opening of the new Sanxingdui Museum in July.
Chinese netizens praised the museum for these new treasures, expressing admiration for their beauty and significance. Comments on Sina Weibo highlighted Sanxingdui as a true repository of treasures.
A staff member at the Sanxingdui Museum, surnamed Ran, conveyed the museum's commitment to updating cultural relics, aiming to provide fresh experiences for visitors. Zhang Guoyong, deputy researcher at the Xingtai Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Research Center, endorsed the continuous introduction of newly excavated cultural relics, emphasizing their role in enriching cultural activities and keeping researchers and heritage enthusiasts informed about the progress of Sanxingdui's archaeological excavations.
Zhang told the Global Times that these newly introduced relics offer valuable research materials, guiding researchers to explore Sanxingdui and ancient Shu culture. This, in turn, enhances public understanding of history and the ancient Shu culture associated with the ruins.
Following the discovery of six sacrificial pits containing 13,000 artifacts in 2019, the Sanxingdui Museum has displayed numerous exquisite cultural relics. In October, a beautiful bronze bird from the Shang Dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC) was showcased. Additionally, the new Sanxingdui Museum, opened in July, features over 1,500 sets of cultural relics, including pottery, bronze, jade, gold, and ivory wares. More than 600 items are on display for the first time, with over 300 newly unearthed items from the No.3 to No.8 sacrificial pits since 2020.
In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, in which he proposed the idea of the "Silk Road Economic Belt." Since then, an initiative that would have a significant impact on the world's development and prosperity has taken root. Over the last decade, the vision of high-quality construction of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has achieved substantial and fruitful results in Kazakhstan and across the Central Asia region. Recently, Global Times reporters Lin Xiaoyi and Xia Wenxin (GT) interviewed former Uzbek deputy prime minister and former minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Saidmukhtar Saidkasimov (Saidkasimov) in Uzbekistan. The diplomat shared his views on how the BRI and Chinese wisdom have primed Central Asian countries to usher in a new era of development in the past decade. GT: What were your impressions when you first heard about the concept of "the Silk Road Economic Belt" (the "Belt") and BRI in general? How does Uzbekistan view this initiative?
Saidkasimov: It is no exaggeration to say that the initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping 10 years ago, generated tremendous interest around the world from the very beginning. It was not only a very bold, but also a hitherto unprecedented large-scale interregional project. What attracted attention to this project, above all, was its practical and applicable orientation, covering all the direct economic interests and benefits of dozens of countries and peoples.
For the first time in history, an unprecedented plan for the formation and development of an interconnected transportation infrastructure across the entire Eurasian continent was presented. Its implementation truly opened up broad prospects for the creation of a fundamentally new transport configuration across the vast expanse of our planet.
Obviously, such an initiative could not go unnoticed at the global level. Indeed, over the last decade, a large number of countries have shown their interest in participating in this ambitious project to create new trade routes, transportation, and economic corridors closely linking the countries of Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Another important goal of the BRI is that it is ultimately aimed at overcoming poverty, social disadvantages, and the enormous development gap in many countries and regions that are breeding grounds for international terrorism, extremism, and illegal migration. All this requires overcoming inequality, domestic stagnation, and stagnation in global economic development.
From the very beginning, Uzbekistan was one of the first countries to highly appreciate and greatly support the BRI for many reasons. On the one hand, the idea of active trade permeates the entire centuries-old history of our region. Uzbekistan and Central Asia in very distant years practically connected trade relations of the whole of Eurasia. On the other hand, geographically, Central Asia has been the center and the main route of the legendary Silk Road for centuries, being a strategically important trade hub.
It is noteworthy that the idea of reuniting hundreds of peoples and countries of Eurasia into a single belt of mutually beneficial cooperation was proclaimed by China, where the Silk Road historically originated. China itself demonstrates to the world a great example of successful social development. In a historically short period, a huge number of Chinese people were able to escape poverty and backwardness and achieved a fairly high level of development. This achievement by the Chinese people is a rare, unique phenomenon in world history.
GT: What impact has the BRI had on Uzbekistan's development over the last decade?
Saidkasimov: Uzbekistan attaches great importance to strengthening cooperation with China for joint development in various areas and constantly measures its plans against the potential of the BRI. A huge number of examples convincingly demonstrate the creative power of the broad, multifaceted, and constantly growing cooperation between Uzbekistan and China within the BRI, confirming the reality and validity of the great promising expectations of our peoples to further strengthen friendly ties.
For many years, China has firmly occupied the position of one of the main economic partners of Uzbekistan. A number of interstate, intergovernmental, and interagency agreements and arrangements create the necessary legal framework for the growing investment cooperation. Projects in industrial cooperation, infrastructure modernization, transport, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and the creation of joint industrial parks of high technologies with the participation of companies from both countries have been successfully implemented. The volume of Chinese investments in Uzbekistan's economy in recent years has exceeded $10 billion.
Significant joint projects are being promoted. All four strings of the China-Central Asia gas pipeline pass through the territory of Uzbekistan. The railroad tunnel through Kamchik Pass, the longest in our region, is now operational. The throughput potential of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) highway corridor and the railroad is increasingly opening up. Cooperation on the construction of the CKU railway will expand the geography of trade and transportation from China through Uzbekistan to Europe and the Gulf States from the south. It will also transform Uzbekistan from an inland state into an important communications hub in the region.
Uzbekistan, with the help of China, is significantly diversifying export destinations, modernizing infrastructure, and reorienting investment flows to new areas, increasing their potential. China has also become the main exporter of electric cars to Uzbekistan.
Cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries is also actively developing. In this important sphere, joint mass events are increasingly being organized, including art festivals, gala concerts, exhibitions, and seminars. Cooperation is expanding in such areas as student exchanges, translation and publication of literary works, cinematography, translation and broadcasting of television programs, inter-regional contacts, and personnel training, which effectively contribute to the rapprochement of our peoples.
GT: Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is expected to visit China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in October. What are your expectations from this visit?
Saidkasimov: The upcoming Belt and Road forum is an important event. Undoubtedly, it will cause a huge resonance on a global scale, because it will most likely deal primarily with plans to further expand the transport capabilities of regional and global trade and economic cooperation, in which Uzbekistan is also interested.
It is no coincidence that President Mirziyoyev took an active part and introduced new initiatives at the first Forum in 2017, and at the second in April 2019. There is no doubt that President Mirziyoyev's upcoming visit to China will make a new contribution to the stable and consistent development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership and give a powerful impetus to the further expansion and deepening of Uzbek-Chinese cooperation.
GT: Speaking of the CKU railway, what do you think the three countries can expect from this project?
Saidkasimov: The latest news has shown more positivity. An agreement was signed a year ago and the three countries have already started working on this project. At present, agreements on all technical and financial matters are on a mutually acceptable basis.
This railway, as well as many others, is not a noble gesture by China. All three countries are equally interested in this project. Everyone will benefit from it, be it China, Kyrgyzstan, or Uzbekistan. It is always a great advantage for any country to have a network of good railroads because all countries profit from the opportunity to use them for transportation.
GT: Is Uzbekistan interested in China's development model? What aspects your country is interested in the most?
Saidkasimov: Uzbekistan is very closely following the development of China as a reliable strategic partner. We are increasingly interested in all aspects and spheres of its development. Uzbekistan is studying China's modernization plan because we feel very close to many of China's approaches to solving problems.
Uzbekistan first paid special attention to the development of China's real economy, the improvement of the income distribution system, and ensuring grain security. In addition, the development strategy of President Mirziyoyev emphasizes the development of science and technology. In this regard, China's approach of considering science and technology as the main productive force and innovation as the main driving force of growth is in line with and interesting to us. China's experience in developing high-tech industry is of special interest to our republic.
Uzbekistan will closely follow China's commitment to focus on breakthroughs in advanced technologies while enhancing the resilience and capabilities of industrial and logistics chains in terms of strengthening the foundation for building production capacity and developing its own solution for restructuring international industrial chains, modernizing through stimulus measures in areas such as manufacturing, product quality, aerospace, transport, cyberspace, and digital development.
Second, as President Mirziyoyev has repeatedly noted, Uzbekistan pays special attention to China's experience in achieving inclusive social justice, pulling more and more people out of poverty, and increasing the size of the middle class, thus achieving universal equality in society. China's success in this area is well-known in Uzbekistan. On the initiative of President Mirziyoyev, a special program of cooperation to introduce China's experience in overcoming poverty has been developed and is being actively implemented in our republic. Such rich experience in overcoming the country's historically complex and multidimensional social problems is being carefully studied.
Third, the strategic aspirations of China and Uzbekistan also coincide in the sphere of harmonious coexistence between human and nature. This goal is among the main ones in the long-term program proposed by President Mirziyoyev. As in China, innovativeness, coordination, environmental friendliness, openness and sharing, and the maximum protection of nature and the environment are introduced in this sphere in our republic. The experience of the emerging carbon trading market and clean power generation system, as well as China's willingness to work with other countries to promote the transformation to a clean and low-carbon development model, are also noteworthy.
In general, the policy of President Mirziyoyev, aims at the constant expansion of comprehensive cooperation with China, is immensely fruitful in the most diverse spheres of social development, and has the full support of the people of Uzbekistan.
GT: How has Uzbekistan's attitude toward China changed over the years?
Saidkasimov: In recent years, some top European Union leaders have visited our country. Some of them wanted to create the illusion that "China is dangerous." But Uzbekistan's response was unambiguous and confidently principled that we decide our relations with other countries based on our national interests. That is, no one needs to teach Uzbekistan how to conduct its relations with other countries. And for us, we see only positivity in developing good relations with China.
GT: We know that Uzbekistan has been going through reform in recent years under President Mirziyoyev. Could you please tell us what has changed over the years during this reform?
Saidkasimov: Uzbekistan began to change dramatically after President Mirziyoyev took office. The Uzbekistan before Mirziyoyev and after Mirziyoyev is completely different: Back then, it was a closed state; foreign relations were very limited, even with our four neighbors; we had a completely closed press, freedom of expression was prohibited; and we did not carry out any reforms, neither in the economy nor in other spheres. After Mirziyoyev took office, this all began to change radically.
Many Chinese experts called Mirziyoyev a reformer, indeed the Uzbek Deng Xiaoping. Knowing what a huge role Deng played in the fundamental transformation of Chinese society, I would fully agree with such an assessment.
He knows well the situation and all the problems in Uzbekistan. Now he is pursuing a policy to transform Uzbekistan in all directions to build a "New Uzbekistan."
First of all, in foreign policy, he started to actively develop relations with all friendly countries. Among his main priorities, he made a state visit to China. He also visited European Union countries and the US. We have dramatically increased the number of embassies in other countries. Many other countries also opened their embassies in Tashkent.
In terms of the economy, we see the development of entrepreneurship. All restrictions for both large and small businesses have been removed. The state has begun to provide this influential support, primarily to small and medium-size businesses. In this case, financial support was very well provided, while various benefits were created for entrepreneurs. For the first time, we also opened foreign bank branches. As a result, our GDP per capita has changed noticeably over these seven years.
In general, great changes have taken place in the economy, social life, and cultural development. That is to say, today we can say that Uzbekistan is developing as a modern state in a very free, calm, and even manner.
GT: You founded the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in 1992. What motivated you to create this university?
Saidkasimov: It has more to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the collapse, 15 former republics became independent. The point is that during the Soviet era, only Moscow was in charge of these republics' foreign policy, because the Soviet Union was a unified state, and therefore a unified foreign policy was implemented with the center. Moreover, foreign policy specialists and diplomats were trained only in Moscow.
When we became independent, we had to open an embassy and accept foreign diplomats, but then we found out that Uzbekistan has no specialists or national diplomats. After all, diplomacy is a special sphere of activity that needs its own professionals who defend the national interests. Therefore, having experience in this sphere as a professor in universities in Moscow to prepare diplomats, I felt it necessary to establish such a study institution in Tashkent. Our university was the first of such in the former Soviet Union states. Our university had a special status and requirements, and we selected the strongest trained young people. As a result, everything went successfully, creating a highly professional national corps of Uzbek diplomats. Today, many Uzbek Ambassadors are graduates of this university.
The Hangzhou Asian Games was full of bright and impressive sports victories of participants. Among them, the national team of Uzbekistan won 71 medals - 22 gold, 18 silver, and 31 bronze medals - entering the top 5 of Asian countries and regions.
In recent years, Uzbekistan has consolidated the image of a country with outstanding athletes - chess players, boxers, judoists, weightlifters and the like. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the audience witnessed the appearance of Uzbek sports stars in boxing, taekwondo, athletics, fencing, rowing, etc.
Observers noted that this was the result of the development of sports in the country. An effective system of training professional athletes, coaches, medical staff and judges has been created in Uzbekistan, a spokesperson of the Uzbek Embassy in Beijing told the Global Times. The implementation of these goals in every way contributes to the wide promotion of a healthy lifestyle, the education of comprehensively developed youth, and the further development of physical culture and sports.
Measures for the development of physical culture and sports are defined in the Development Strategy of the New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026. In 2022, expenses allocated for the development of sports in Uzbekistan increased five times from 2017, according to the embassy.
One hundred and eighteen large sports facilities have been put into operation in the country and 110 more facilities have been reconstructed. Thanks to the sports infrastructure, Uzbekistan has become a venue for major international competitions, including the World and Asian championships in boxing, taekwondo, freestyle wrestling, fencing and other sports. Preparations are underway for the Asian Youth Games in 2025.
A healthy lifestyle is widely approved among young people in the country, and mass sports are provided. Uzbek athletes, achieving victories at prestigious international competitions including the Hangzhou Asian Games, demonstrate the high sports potential of Uzbekistan. The results achieved by athletes in Hangzhou vividly present Uzbekistan to the sports community of the world as a country where sports are developing at an accelerated pace, the spokesperson told the Global Times.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez visited the Memorial of the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s First National Congress in downtown Shanghai, on October 15, before he attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
Staffers at the memorial shared stories of how the young CPC pioneers founded the Party a century ago with Fernandez during his visit. At the hall in the memorial, Fernandez took photos of the full-body bronze statues of the 13 delegates of the CPC's first National Congress.
According to the memorial's staffers, Fernandez carefully listened to the docent's introduction and periodically asked questions. He inquired about the statue of Li Hanjun, who was one of the 13 delegates and the site's owner at that time. The site of the CPC's first National Congress was originally a traditional Shanghai-style "shikumen" apartment.
"The memorial's display and presentation are very well done," praised Fernandez.
Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja also accompanied the Argentine President on the Sunday visit.
During the visit to the memorial, Narvaja shared that his Chinese name "Niu Wangdao" came from a renowned Chinese translator Chen Wangdao, who was the first person to translate The Communist Manifesto into Chinese in 1920. Shanghai was the first stop on Fernandez's China tour.
Pakistan is looking forward to taking the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into the next phase with greater vigor and hopes to see fruits of the CPEC benefit not only China and Pakistan, but the whole region, said Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives for Pakistan Ahsan Iqbal.
Iqbal was talking to the Global Times in an exclusive interview after a meeting of the 12th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the CPEC in Beijing on Tuesday.
Iqbal, who has extensive experience and long-standing involvement in the CPEC, said he was overwhelmed at how much has been accomplished by the CPEC in just 10 years.
The beauty of the CPEC is that it is a project between two countries that enjoy a very unique relationship, Iqbal said. "Normally, countries come close when they need to, and they get farther away when they don't need each other. But in the case of China and Pakistan, it has been always spring. There has never been autumn in this relationship."
This year marks a decade of the CPEC. The landmark project was formalized on July 5, 2013.
The CPEC has done a great service to Pakistan, helping it overcome the energy crisis, develop modern infrastructure and restore the country's image as an investment destination. Prior to the CPEC the world used to look at Pakistan as a very dangerous country, the Pakistani minister said.
Pakistan would be facing an extreme energy crisis today without the projects launched under the CPEC, Iqbal emphasized.
Everyone in Pakistan has benefited from the great contribution that has been made by the CPEC, he added. If there was a lack of electricity, factories would be closed and workers would be laid off; patients in hospitals and students in educational institutions would also be stranded.
He mentioned the Thar region of Pakistan, which was once a backward area, saying the CPEC has transformed the region into a source of energy for the country. Local education, employment, hospitals and schools have also flourished.
The projects also empower local women in the region, Iqbal noted. "You will be amazed to see that local women are driving the heavy trucks, which take coal out of the mines." In total, the CPEC projects have created about 200,000 job opportunities.
Iqbal said Pakistan now has a lot more vigor to move forward on the CPEC, adding that many projects that were delayed in previous years were completed in the last year.
He said that Pakistan is looking forward to taking the CPEC into the next phase with greater vigor. "I hope that the next phase will bring many dividends for the wider region beyond Pakistan and China. We hope one day the whole of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East will benefit from the CPEC."
When talking about the mega projects within the second phase of the CPEC, Iqbal expressed his hope to see the start of major upgrades to the Main Line 1 railway between Karachi and Peshawar with China's help as soon as possible in 2023. Modernization and upgrades are urgently needed for this aging railway line, especially as it was badly damaged by the floods last year.
This $10-billion project was supposed to be done in the first phase, but it got delayed in the last four years, Iqbal said.
Iqbal refuted claims in the Western media that the CPEC has not lived up to expectations and has become a "debt trap," saying that instead it has "outperformed the expectations. The propaganda [from the West] that the CPEC is a debt trap is all false. All the negative propaganda against the CPEC has a political element. It has no reality," he told the Global Times.
Infrastructure was the priority of the first-phase of the CPEC, and the second phase will focus on industrial cooperation and business linkage through increasing investment in sectors such as energy, agriculture, information technology and mining, according to Iqbal.
Pakistan is working on nine Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which will provide more opportunities for Chinese investment. Rashakai, one of the nine SEZs, will be inaugurated later this month, and other SEZs are also in advanced stages, Iqbal revealed to the Global Times.
In the energy sector, Pakistan is actively pursuing solar energy and is hoping to invite Chinese companies to set up solar power production plants, Iqbal noted.
Chinese officials are highly concerned about the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and hope that the Pakistani side will continue to take strong security measures.
On security in Pakistan, the minister said Pakistan is taking extra precautions for the security of Chinese people, and have provided four layers of security dedicated to CPEC projects including deploying a special army force with 10,000 personnel, which has been integrated with police, paramilitary forces and local security.
As the CPEC is a strategic project with big geopolitical implications, enemies are always looking for opportunities to disrupt it either through terrorist acts or creating miscommunication, the Pakistani minister emphasized.
In China's cinematic landscape, a groundbreaking revolution is quietly taking place at the Guangming Cinema, which embraced cutting-edge digital methods to immerse visually impaired people in the magic of storytelling through the medium of film.
"Welcome to the Guangming (Light) Cinema. Here we convey film through voice and perceive art through sound. Today you will experience the movie Ne Zha," a narrator explained to a group of young opinion leaders from 15 countries.
As they settled into their assigned movie theater seats, the 16 international youth opinion leaders from 15 countries were about to have a unique viewing experience at the Guangming Cinema in China's capital of Beijing. Here, they got to "watch" a movie while blindfolded, to learn what a movie-going experience is like for those living with visual impairment.
They sat in front of a screen, listening carefully to the sounds from the movie. Throughout the movie screening, along with the character voices, film score, and background action sound, those taking part in the sensory experiment also heard the voice of a narrator describing scenes, moves, and visual effects otherwise hard to enjoy without the sense of sight.
Actually, the movie these overseas young people were "watching" is a barrier-free movie - also named voice-descriptive movie, a product specially adapted for people living with visual impairment - created by a group of volunteers at the Guangming Cinema to allow visually impaired people to enjoy the equal right of walking into a cinema and enjoying a well-rounded movie-going experience like people with sights would have.
The Guangming Cinema Audio-descriptive Movie Making and Promotion Project, a public welfare project established by the Communication University of China (CUC) in Beijing in 2017, aims to create reproducible and transmittable audio-descriptive products to meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the visually impaired.
The movie Ne Zha, which deeply moved the audience of young international visitors, is just one of several hundred barrier-free movies that come with complete narration and are re-recorded by volunteers.
Data showed that there are 17.32 million people living with visual impairment in China, and the number of people with dyslexia may be even higher. To meet the cultural and spiritual needs of such a large population posed a great challenge for Chinese society and related government departments in the past.
In the plan for protection and development of disabled people during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the Chinese government pointed out the necessity of supporting people living with disabilities and enhancing the quality of public services, such as rehabilitation, education, culture, and sports. The creation of a barrier-free environment in China has become an important aspect of promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.
The Guangming Cinema Project is a vivid example of the country's efforts to build a barrier-free environment for the visually impaired. Since its establishment, the project has provided rich inclusive and culturally relevant products for a large number of visually impaired people.
As of May 2023, the Guangming Cinema has produced 520 barrier-free movies and two barrier-free television series, and has carried out public welfare screenings in 31 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the Macao Special Administrative Region, reaching over 2 million people across the country.
Arduous but rewarding process
At the Guangming Cinema, a group of volunteers including professors, undergraduates, and postgraduate students, have devoted most of their leisure time participating in activities related to the film project, such as the re-recording of barrier-free movies, coordinating and promoting the screening of such movies, with the desire to help visually impaired people to experience and enjoy the world through cinema.
Xue Hanjie, a junior undergraduate student majoring in radio and television editing at the CUC Television School, told the Global Times that she joined the project in her freshman year and worked as a volunteer in the project's production group.
For Xue and other volunteers with the project, making barrier-free movies is not only about describing the stories in a movie, but also about helping the visually impaired to understand the meaning that the director wanted to convey to audiences. The opening shot, the landscape, the appearance and movements of a character, any and all aspects pertinent to the development of the plot are narrated, to help those who are visually impaired to gain a complete picture of what's happening in the movie.
Sometimes, when there are too many characters and different languages in a film, narrators dub the movie in Chinese and in different voices, so that the visually impaired can fully understand the plot only by listening.
In the dubbing room, volunteer Li Zhixing, a postgraduate student at the CUC, watches the scenes of a movie and actively adjusts his emotions and voice accordingly. Judging from the needs of the role, he sometimes plays the role of a young soldier, and then switches to the voice of an old man.
In order to control the voice performance of the actors and accurately convey emotions, a seemingly simple sentence has to be repeated and recorded four to five times over.
At the same time, outside the dubbing room, two volunteers at the tuning table align Li's dubbed dialogues and narrations with the appropriate scenes in the movie being worked on.
Cai Yu, a PhD student from Television School at the CUC, and also a volunteer with the project for about six years, explained that the making of a movie is usually time consuming and detail oriented. "In the beginning, we invite a volunteer to write the narration script. Teachers and other volunteers then review and proofread the script three times, polish the details, and then we start recording in the dubbing room, and go through editing, film encoding, and finally reviewing," Cai elaborated.
On average, narrating and dubbing a 90 to 120 minutes' film usually takes two to three months. A volunteer can usually only make one film over the course of one semester, Cai said.
The professionalism and responsibility of volunteer work left a deep impression on the overseas youth opinion leaders.
"Empathy and understanding were the thoughts that came to my mind when we were exposed to the project and the movie. It was a moving experience since I was able to put myself in blind people's shoes," Jose Carlos Feliciano, deputy director of the Center for China and Asia-Pacific Studies, University of the Pacific, Peru, told the Global Times after having a visually impaired movie-going experience.
Igor Alexander Bello Tasic, founder and CEO of Meta Ventures from Spain, said that when he wore the blindfold and "watched" the movie, he could feel that volunteers were not performing a technical job, but an artistic one.
They were not just trying to create a layer of information, but were narrating the story in a way similar to "Director's cut" - a human layer that connected that media with people who could experience it in its original form, Tasic said.
'Human reality' of volunteers
Due to work experience, Tasic knows some of the technologies related to visual reality and augmented reality, but at the Guangming Cinema, he said that what he felt was a sort of "human reality," a humanization of senses that he has never seen before.
The project has attracted more and more like-minded students, who want to help improve the quality of life of those living with visual impairment in the Chinese society. Cai said that each year, about 100 undergraduates and postgraduate freshmen join the project's volunteer team.
Rida Hameed, a journalist with Pakistan's K21 News, said that visiting the Guangming Cinema was the best moment of her life, giving her a sense of peace and satisfaction that there are people in this world who don't work for money but for the sake of humanity and kindness.
The Guangming Cinema now aims to produce 104 barrier-free films each year. "There are 52 weeks in a year, and we want to ensure that at least two barrier-free movies are provided for the visually impaired every week," Xue told the Global Times.
In the control room, the visitors saw printed movie narration scripts stacked into two 50-centimeter-high piles beside the tuning table. According to preliminary statistics, the number of words written by the volunteers in one year can be as many as 3 million.
"I was able to see the editing process for the voices, and realized that it really takes a lot of time and patience. The project has a long working hour process and requires great commitment (from the volunteers)," said Feliciano to the Global Times.
At the end of the year or during special occasions, the project team integrates the barrier-free movies and saves them in specially-made mobile hard disk drives and U disks, so that these movies can be played on computers even in the remotest villages in China. The team also stores movies in audio recorders with a memory card in it, allowing people with visual impairment to listen to the movies anytime and anywhere.
Pursuing for 'bright' future
In May 2022, the Marrakesh Treaty, which is the first and only human rights treaty that is copyrighted, officially came into effect in China.
The treaty allows authorized entities to produce print formats of cultural works geared toward those living with disabilities without authorization from copyright holders, from Braille books and audiobooks to films and TV shows. Experts noted that it is a practical move that China adopted to expand the country's human rights protection sphere for some 17 million print-disabled people, giving them equal access to culture and education.
Based on the Marrakesh Treaty, the Guangming Cinema has carried out many public warfare activities for people with visual impairment. Since April 2021, the project team has cooperated with the Beijing School for the Blind to screen barrier-free movies for children once a month.
In the Guangming Cinema, a special collection attracted the international visitors' attention and deeply moved them. It was a Braille text written by a little girl from the Beijing School for the Blind to the Guangming Cinema, displayed in a 6-inch red photo frame, on which it reads "Everyone is someone's light, and you are our light."
In order to allow the visually impaired to gain the full movie-viewing experience, the volunteers also chose to screen barrier-free movies in places such as the Chaoyang Theater in Beijing, a highly populated residential area with convenient transportation facilities for visually-impaired people.
"We insist on providing barrier-free movies in theaters and cinemas, because we want to help achieve equal rights for those who are visually-impaired. They deserve an equal right to walk into a cinema and enjoy a movie," said Xue.
Additionally, volunteers from the Guangming Cinema went to remote places in China to carry out public welfare screenings, so that visually impaired people in those areas and people in ethnic minority areas could also enjoy the cultural experience brought by movies. The movies and television series made for people living with disabilities by the project volunteers were also sent out to 2,244 special education schools across China.
As of 2021, there were 2,288 special education schools in China, increased from 1,933 in 2013, according to the Report on the Cause for Persons with Disabilities in China (2023) issued in May, 2023. This means that about 98 percent of special education schools in China have benefited from the project, where students in said schools can enjoy barrier-free movies made.
Feliciano told the Global Times that in Guangming Cinema, he was impressed by how digitization was used to empower philanthropy and social projects in China. "It's very interesting to see how Chinese innovative solutions can be an inspiration to other countries," he said.
He also said that he would share the digital example with his students and write articles about what he had learned on his trip in China, to let more people know about China's practices in the digital sphere.
This is really a noble cause and other countries in the world must learn from how China is taking good care of its people, not only at present but are also trying to make the future better as well, Hameed said.
Amid torrential rain, rivers surged, houses collapsed and communications were disrupted... Under the influence of Typhoon Doksuri, heavy rainfall has persisted in Northern China, impacting regions like Beijing, the neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province and setting records that haven't been seen in a century. Rescuers are racing against time, fighting to establish a "lifeline" to save lives and property.
From 8 pm on July 29 to 7 am on August 2, extreme heavy rainfall has drenched China's capital city. The highest recorded rainfall was at the Wangjiayuan Reservoir in the Changping district, being a total of 744.8 millimeters over this period, the local meteorological department reported on Wednesday.
This extreme rainfall has significantly exceeded historical records, ranking it as the highest recorded rainfall in the past 140 years.
In Beijing, multiple areas in Mentougou district in western Beijing faced dangerous situations, while communications were disrupted in 62 villages across seven townships in Fangshan district in southwestern Beijing.
The water level of the Yongding River, the main waterway in Beijing, surged, while a bridge over the Xiaoqing River located west of Lugou Bridge collapsed.
In response to the torrential rainstorms and floods that have wreaked havoc in Beijing and its surrounding regions, authorities are mobilizing an all-out effort to safeguard the people from the impact of disasters. Various rescue teams have been working tirelessly to provide assistance.
On Thursday, the Global Times reporters saw People's Armed Police soldiers assist in the relocation of disaster-affected residents in Liulihe township, Fangshan district.
Fortunately, as water levels gradually recede, rescue operations in Fangshan are nearing completion.
Simultaneously, to alleviate flood control pressure on Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei has activated seven flood water detention areas and relocated 1.2 million residents, according to a report from the Hebei Daily on Wednesday.
Zhuozhou, a city in Hebei Province that neighbors the Fangshan district of Beijing, has seen over 130,000 people affected by the disaster and is still being heavily impacted by flooding. More than 150 civilian rescue teams arrived, and more have been summoned from across the country.
On Thursday, members of the volunteer rescue team, including the Blue Sky Rescue team, helped transfer flood-affected residents and supplies in Huangjiajie village and Mengjiajie village in Matou township, Zhuozhou. Meanwhile, more rescue supplies were arriving at the scene.
Before the arrival of the flood, residents living on low ground had been notified and relocated to safe places, the Global Times learned from local residents.
On Wednesday evening, the Global Times witnessed villagers from Mentougou district departing from Yanchi township and moving downhill along the railway to safer areas.
Meanwhile, soldiers of the People's Liberation Army rescued villagers from remote mountainous villages, especially elderly people with mobility issues, using military trucks, transporting them to temporary shelters.
During the evacuation process, an interim command center was established in the Mentougou district to coordinate various rescue efforts. Simultaneously, emergency, firefighting, medical, and other rescue and support forces were deployed.
Relief points were set up to provide drinking water, food, medicine, and other supplies to ensure the safety and basic needs of the evacuees.
From October 26 to 28, the British Council participated in the 24th China Annual Conference for International Education and Expo (CACIE 2023) as a CACIE Honorary Partner, and hosted two sub-forums on higher education: "From Study to Work: Global Talent Mobility and Development" and "English Teaching and Assessment to Enhance International Understanding Education in Secondary Schools."
The former focused on the current trends and challenges of talent cultivation and mobility in the context of international education, while the latter addressed the hot topic of international understanding education in the K12 sector.
"Through the two forums, we shared our insights on the mobility and development of Chinese students abroad, and introduced our comprehensive assessment solutions and ecosystem value chain from study to work, represented by the British Council's IELTS test. We were also honored to invite our partners, top universities and enterprises from home and abroad, to share their best practices and explore how to better support the lifelong growth and development of international education in China," said You Zhuoran, director of examinations at the British Council China.
Chinese people believe that letters are as valuable as gold. For thousands of years, letters, across mountains and oceans, have been delivering writers' sentiments and conveyed friendship and expectations.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, has managed to find time to reply to some letters from different parts of society and the world despite his busy work schedule.
Through his letters, Xi has corresponded with international friends from all walks of life on numerous occasions, part of a series of excellent stories of China's international exchanges in the new era. The letters have also added vivid color to the diplomacy between China and other countries.
The Global Times traced and contacted some of the recipients of Xi's letters, to hear the inspiring stories behind the letters and their communication with the president.
In this installment, Global Times reporters spoke with technicians from the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine Co, Ltd to learn about their stories of devoting themselves to the research and development of China's domestic aero engines and how Xi encouraged them to inherit and carry forward the spirit of a great country's craftspeople, along with a thorough review of how China gradually created its own aero engines.
"A workman must first sharpen his tools if he wants to do his work well," is a Chinese saying that emphasizes not only the importance of tools of a craft, but indicates the vital role of the craftsman who creates the tools.
"Your work is important and honorable," Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, told technicians at the Li Zhiqiang Class in Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine Co Ltd, while Xi visited the corporation in 2013 to review its work in developing and producing aero engines.
A decade later, in a letter to the class on September 1, Xi spokes highly of the contribution of technicians in the research and development process of China's aero engines.
Xi emphasized that aero engines are a vital national asset and an important reflection of the country's scientific and technological strength and innovation capabilities. "I hope you will remember your mission and responsibilities, firmly uphold the aspiration of serving the aviation industry, promote the spirit of model workers and craftsmen, strive to make more technological breakthroughs, accelerate the pace of independent research and development of aviation engines, and enable Chinese aircraft to have a stronger 'Chinese heart,'" Xi said in the letter.
Until recently, aero engines had been a shortcoming in China's aircraft development, but that impression changed drastically when the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force's most advanced stealth fighter jet, the J-20, made its first public appearance equipped with a pair of domestically developed engines in 2021, replacing imported engines used in the past.
Aero jeweler The aero engine is deemed the "crown jewel" of modern industry. An aero engine is composed of tens of thousands of components of different shapes and materials. The circuit of the engine is like blood vessels around the human body, which requires a very high degree of precision to assemble and allows no room for error.
Technicians from the Li Zhiqiang Class, named after national model worker and national technical expert Li Zhiqiang, are exactly the people who are responsible for assembling aero engines and gas turbines.
"At that time, the president said our work 'is important and honorable.' He also said that the turbine vanes and blades are as valuable as diamonds. We always recall such acknowledgement and encouragement and use them as fuel to keep striving forward," said Li Zhiqiang, recalling Xi's visit a decade ago.
In a letter to Xi, Li and seven other technicians reported achievements made in strengthening technological innovation and promoting independent research and development in the aero industry over the last decade, expressing their determination to accelerate the pace of independent research and development of aero engines and build a strong aviation nation.
As the initiator among a total of eight technicians from the class who wrote the letter, Li told the Global Times that Xi's reply letter showed "extreme recognition, was encouraging, and inspirational" to the team. He shared the letter's contents to all 62 members of the team. "We must keep in mind his care, trust, and ardent expectations, firmly follow the new path of independent innovation and development of aero engines, and ensure that China's domestically made aircraft will use a stronger 'Chinese heart' in the future," he said.
One of Li's primary work principles is to "never give up before all problems are solved." In the last decade, Li, together with his colleagues, made use of various methods, including 3D simulation, to elaborately lay out processing plans for different products in accordance with their characteristics, efficiently increasing assembly quality and reducing the production period.
A typical example of the class implementing the principle is the aero engine accessory case. In the past, the case needed to be held together by several people when trying to install it in the belly of the engine, which is difficult and inefficient. This problem greatly bothered Wen Shangzhi, the current leader of the class. To solve it, Wen and his team members made use of their spare time to discuss, search materials, and conduct experiments, finally creating a new method, which obtained certification from experts and effectively improved installation efficiency.
It is in this way that the Li Zhiqiang Class found solutions and overcame obstacles one by one over the last decade, by inventing new methods, new technologies, and new tools. In total, the team solved 52 technical problems in scientific research and assembly, independently developed 312 tools and obtained more than 50 invention patents, the Global Times learned from the corporation.
When two J-20 fighter jets appeared the sky on the hot and humid opening day of the Airshow China 2021, on September 29 in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, not many spectators fully understood what they had just witnessed.
The two jets started their flight performance with a low tandem flyby above the air show site. Then, one of the aircrafts drastically pulled up and soared into the sky, while the other pulled left and performed a tight spiral maneuver before vanishing into the clouds, in a display of the aircraft's outstanding power and maneuverability.
Immediately after the flight performance, Senior Colonel Li Jikuan, commander of the J-20s' flight performance, announced at a press conference at the air show that it was the J-20's first public performance after being fitted with domestically built engines.
Experts told the Global Times that the domestically built engines provide more powerful thrust that helps the J-20 in super-maneuverability and supersonic cruise, while the engines' serrated nozzles can improve the aircraft's stealth capability.
Another important aspect of converting to use domestically built engines is that it enables mass production of aircrafts, since there are no import restrictions, experts said.
The J-20 is not the only aircraft to use domestically developed engines. Also at the Airshow China 2021, Tang Changhong, chief designer of the Y-20 large transport plane, announced that the Y-20 would be equipped with two types of domestically developed engines. After being equipped with these engines, the Y-20's capabilities have received a boost, Tang said.
Compared with imported engines, the Chinese engines could boost the Y-20's range, endurance, and cargo capacity by providing more powerful thrust and using less fuel, while also allowing the plane to take off and land on shorter runways, analysts said.
Another key member of the "20 aircraft family," the Z-20 utility helicopter, also uses domestically developed engines.
The developers of the Z-20 told the Global Times in October 2019 that the domestically developed engines are powerful enough to enable the helicopter to fly in low-oxygen plateau regions.
Observers noted that the primary battle aircrafts owned by the PLA had converted to domestically developed engines as of this year, but that does not mean China's continued efforts in aero engine development have reached their goal.
Toward stronger future
In the 2022 edition of the Airshow China, AECC showcased five variants of the Taihang series turbofan engines, which are used by different aircraft.
The Taihang engine has received continued improvements and upgrades, and its performance, reliability, safety, stealth capability, power extraction, environmental adaptability, endurance, and thrust vectoring - among other factors - have all received technical boosts.
This is expected to comprehensively enhance the aircraft's survivability and combat capabilities, and has realized the complete independent support of domestically developed engines.
One of the five Taihang engines on display has a 2D thrust vectoring control nozzle, which attracted the attention of visitors.
Li Gang, the pilot of the J-20 stealth fighter jet's first flight, said in a media interview that he would like to see the J-20 eventually be upgraded with engines with 2D thrust vectoring nozzles.
Thrust vectoring control can greatly enhance the maneuverability of an aircraft, usually a fighter jet, by providing thrust directly to a desired direction in addition to using aerodynamics, and this will give the aircraft many tactical advantages in combat, Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times at the event.
An aero engine with a thrust vectoring control nozzle is mechanically and structurally more complex than an engine without one, and this means that thrust vectoring control usually causes a certain level of thrust loss. A 2D nozzle could lose even more thrust than a 3D nozzle. China's development of a turbofan engine with a 2D thrust vectoring control nozzle means the engine has sufficient power to manage the loss of thrust, Wei said.
A 2D nozzle usually has better radar and infrared stealth capability than a 3D nozzle, and that makes the 2D nozzle a generally better option, if the engine itself can provide enough power, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times.
At Airshow China 2018, a J-10B thrust vector control demonstrator aircraft equipped with an engine with 3D thrust vectoring control nozzle delivered a flight performance. An engine with a 3D thrust vectoring control nozzle was also on display at the Airshow China 2022 as one of the five Taihang variants.
It is widely expected that China will continue to develop more advanced aero engines and use them on its advanced warplanes.
The 19th Asian Games, which represents brilliant Asian civilization and creates new records in Asian sports, ended successfully in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday.
When the guests walked into the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, or the "Big Lotus," they were greeted by a huge lawn with the words "Enduring Memories of Hangzhou" written on it. The creative team of the closing ceremony created the most beautiful garden on a "computer numerical control (CNC) lawn" to hold a relaxing and happy party, leaving precious memories of Hangzhou Asian Games for people across Asia, and even the rest of the world.
The closing ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games strived for a simple and valued farewell. In about 90 minutes, four short films, two programs and one carnival were presented to express the sense of celebration and the feeling of parting, and to express China's vision of actively building an Asian community and a global community of a shared future.
The beauty of technology also continued to blossom at the closing ceremony of the Games. After the last athletics event ended on Thursday night, the "Big Lotus," quickly dismantled its competition facilities, leaving only a lawn for the closing ceremony stage. This will be the world's first "CNC lawn," pioneered by the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Sha Xiaolan, general director of the closing ceremony, told the media that the lawn hides nearly 40,000 light-emitting points. During the closing ceremony, the lawn changes to complement the performance, producing patterns such as flowers and tides.
Activating the entire performance was the "Asia" logo formed with the help of virtual AR visual effects, which fell into the stadium together with the surging tide of the Qianjiang River, covering the CNC lawn.
Every one of the more than 12,000 athletes at the Asian Games in Hangzhou is a hero. Over the past nearly 20 days, athletes have fought hard on the field. These moving moments were gathered in the closing ceremony short films.
At the same time, unlike any previous games, the athletes' entrance to the closing ceremony was integrated into the youthful and energetic song and dance performance, and the athletes changed from passive "bystanders" to active "participants," no longer only walking through the venue, but playing in their own stage.
The successful running of a large-scale event cannot be achieved without the hard work of volunteers. At the closing ceremony, the actors formed a "river of memories" to welcome the representatives of the volunteers, thanking them for their warmth and friendliness and leaving precious memories for every guests.
The closing ceremony saw Chinese culture continue to exude its charm. Sunday coincides with the day marked as "cold dew" in the Chinese lunar calendar, which is the time of the year when the lotus and laurel alternately open in Hangzhou. As guests bid farewell to Hangzhou, the carnival conveys the timeless friendship of "Flowers for parting friends" and the aspiration of "The lotus and the osmanthus in harmony," leaving a wonderful memory of Hangzhou Asian Games.
Before the closing ceremony at the stadium, Yasodara Dunuwille Koralege, a reporter from Sri Lanka, carefully flipped through the closing ceremony program.
With cherished memories, Yasodara expressed that when she returns to Sri Lanka, she will share her experience of an unparalleled sporting event in China. She said, "It has been a wonderful experience, and Hangzhou welcomes everyone to visit."
The "digital torchbearer" bearing the enthusiasm of over 100 millions of people across Asia at the opening ceremony made a comeback at the closing ceremony. In his "hand heart" gesture, the fireworks of the main torch tower slowly extinguished. The digital man reluctantly looked back, and finally left the main stadium, stepped on the Qiantang River, and ran into the distance.
It is like this, with the "digital torchbearer" carrying tens of thousands of athletes' memories and stories in Hangzhou, the Asian Games are being led toward a broader and brighter future. As Raja Randhir Singh, the acting president of the Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA), stated to the Global Times, "the legacy left by the Hangzhou Asian Games has set a great example for all future major sporting events."
