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With the soaring pet population and the flourishing pet economy in China, a wave of pet cafes companies has searched across the country, offering popular retreats where visitors can unwind while mingling with adorable animals.
Data from Chicha -Cha, a leading platform offering company information inquiry services, shows shows that there are currently more than 3 ,500 cat -cafe -related companies and more than 200 dog -cafe -related businesses in China.
Kwak Nakhyung, an international student from the Republic of Korea, visits a stray cat -cafe in Beijing twice a week with her friends.
Twenty -four -year -old Quack is particularly drawn to a feline named Nainai.
The café Quack Visits is named Poor Infinity which has rescued nearly thirty stray cats since opening in June this year.
According to Yeh Gien, the owner, the café has seen a steady stream of customers.
Some come for the soothing presence of the cats, while others visit to donate food or adopt them.
Yeh noted that the café's revenue directly supports the adoption and care of the cats.
With the adopt, don't shop philosophy gaining traction, cafes focusing on stray animal adoption are becoming a growing trend in China.
Han Xinghao, another cat cafe owner in Beijing, noted that, unlike traditional stray animal rescue stations, which are often located in suburban areas, and lack a stable income.
Stray animal cafes leverage commercialisation to attract more visitors and generate consistent revenue.
This sustainable model helps ensure the long -term growth and stability of rescue efforts.
Notably, dog cafes in China are also attracting growing interest due to their energetic and lively atmospheres.
When Chang Danyi goes to work, her one -and -a -half -year -old golden retriever is sent to a nearby dog cafe in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province, where it has a part -time job.
20 -year -old Cheng said that the cafe is a vibrant place where her dog can get good care and make friends with other dogs.
Chen Yajie, owner of the Dog Cafe, which has over 30 K9 staff members, said that such a business actually offers a new type of foster care service that requires no payment from either side.
Chen's Cafe offers customers a package that includes a 90 -minute interactive experience with the dogs and a cup of coffee.
According to Chen, each dog must pass an interview before joining the cafe staff, which involves checking their vaccination records, and deworming status as well as assessing their temperament and social skills.
wu yi with China Agricultural University noted that the boom in pet cafes reflects a growing acceptance and love for pets in Chinese society and highlights the thriving pet industry.
According to an industry report, the urban pet consumption market grew to some 280 billion yuan, about 39 billion US dollars last year, and is projected to climb to 361 billion yuan by 2026.
Woo also emphasized the need for sound standards and regulations concerning pet cafe sanitation and environments.
Additionally, staff must be well -trained in terms of pet nutrition and behaviour, as well as the handling of emergencies to ensure animals receive proper care and treatment.
Special English The Chinese Academy of Sciences has launched an international program on synthetic cells in South China's Shenzhen, to promote frontier research in life sciences and biotechnological innovation on a global scale, leveraging the scientific prowess of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology under the Academy.
economy. The programme aims to tackle ground -breaking research questions in the field of synthetic biology.
Additionally, the Initiative seeks to pool expertise worldwide and establish a co -operative paradigm to tackle common challenges faced by humanity.
Synthetic biology is the science of building systems that mimic the structure and function of living cells from scratch.
In recent years, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been committed to international collaborations in the field of synthetic cells.
In October 2023, the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology established the Asian Alliance for Synthetic Cells together with universities and research institutions from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
A memorandum of cooperation was signed this April to lay the foundation for broader international collaborative relationships.
This is Special English Chinese researchers have found that morphological changes of an immune receptor play a key role in allergic reactions, a discovery that could provide new insights for the development of allergy medications.
Allergic diseases, including allergic rhinitis, asthma and allergies to food and medications, affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and have emerged as major public health issues.
Previous studies have shown that when allergens trigger a specific antibody to bind with a particular immune receptor, mast cells and basophils become activated.
This activation leads to the release of allergic mediators, resulting in allergic reactions.
However, the mechanism through which the binding of the antibody to the immune receptor activates allergic signalling pathways and induces allergic responses had long been unclear.
This resulted in limited approaches to developing clinical treatments for allergies which mainly focus on strategies to block the interaction between the antibody and the immune receptor.
Researchers from the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation and Westlake University have revealed the mechanisms behind alertic reactions by analysing protein structures.
They found that when the antibody binds to the immune receptor, the shape of the receptor changes.
This transformation exposes specific protein sites in the associated signaling pathways, which in turn activates these pathways and triggers allergic responses.
The study has been published in the journal Nature.
According to Su Chiang, corresponding author of the study, this discovery suggests that if researchers can stabilize the shape of the immune receptor and prevent it from changing, the relevant protein sites in the signaling pathways will remain hidden.
Even if allergens trigger the binding of the antibody to the receptor, the allergic signaling pathways can not be activated, and allergic reactions will not occur.
Sue explained that this new finding could provide a fundamentally new approach to drug development for allergies.
Sue added that, in the future, they might develop a type of molecular glue to stabilize the inactive state of the immune receptor, effectively preventing allergic reactions.
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Imagine peering into the distant past by glimpsing the face of an ancient ancestor based on a skull.
Thanks to cutting -edge 3D technology, archeologists in northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin provinces have turned this fantasy into reality.
researchers have reconstructed the face of a man from the Hongshan culture who lived during the Neolithic age, offering modern audiences a glance at life over 5 ,000 years ago.
According to Lee Hiber, deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology.
The reconstructed face belongs to a man estimated to be aged between 25 and 30 years old, and the relatively well -preserved skull was excavated from a tomb dating back to the Hongshan culture period, found in Chaoyang City, in Liaoning.
Researchers from the Liaoning Institute and the School of Archeology at Jilin University combined insights from diverse disciplines to determine the individual's gender and age, recreating facial features down to details including the eye, skin and hair colour.
Li said that the project is the first reconstruction based on an actual Hongsian ancestor's skull.
According to Guo Darshun, a prominent Chinese archaeologist, the Hongsian culture is a significant marker of China's transition to the era of ancient states.
The discovery of this culture lays the foundation for understanding the diverse origins of Chinese civilization.
Li noted that compared to traditional sculptural restoration methods, 3D technology offers greater scientific precision and and improved efficiency.
China's advances in 3D technology are continuously providing valuable insights into archaeological discoveries, helping to reveal the true appearance of ancient people, and deepening the understanding of history.
In May this year, Hunan Museum in Changsha, in central China's Hunan Province, released the image of a 3D digital figure of Xin Zui, one of the most famous wet mummies in the world, while four months later archaeologists in Hunan Province unveiled facial reconstructions of two men who lived near the Yellow River during the Neolithic Age.
This is Special English.
Winter can be a tough season for many.
It's often cold, dull, and a bit depressing.
People across the world have found creative ways to brave the winter chill, and China is no exception.
While people in North America's coldest areas built igloos in their hunting camps in winter, the Chinese people have developed their own unique ways of surviving the winter.
You might be wondering how cold winter gets in China.
The country is so vast that some people in the southern region have never seen snow, whereas it is a common sight up north.
Temperatures can vary by more than 70 degrees Celsius from China's southern region to its far northern border.
If you ask where China's coldest region is, I would have to say that the honor goes to or her city in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang.
Here temperatures can plummet to minus 50 degrees Celsius and, on rare occasions, the Arctic aurora graces the skies.
A staple of any Chinese winter wardrobe is chu yi, a cotton version of long underwear, consisting of a long -sleeved shirt and matching pants.
People often begin wearing these cozy layers during chilly autumn nights and keep them on throughout winter.
For outdoor warmth, thick coats and pants do the trick, but staying warm indoors can be another challenge.
Enter the kung, a brick platform built along one side of a room, typically found in northern China.
Heat from the kitchen stove flows through a flu beneath the kung, keeping the platform warm and creating a cozy heated area to sleep or lounge on.
The Kung is said to have been around for more than seven thousand years, and is still common in the countryside in northern China.
The Chinese have also come up with other, clever solutions for winter.
One such invention is the Tong Po Zhi, a pumpkin -shaped bronze kettle filled with boiling water, which, when placed in a cotton bag, keeps hands or feet warm.
In addition to heavy clothing and ingenious heaters, certain foods are believed to help keep the body warm.
Hot pot is a classic winter meal that warms not only the body, but also the spirit, as friends and family gather around the bubbling pot, to eat, chat, and enjoy each other's company.
This communal experience is a perfect way to drive away the winter blues.
congee is another winter staple in China, especially at breakfast.
It's a mild -flavored rice porridge that has been cooked for a long time with plenty of water to soften the rice.
It's a favorite in winter because it is filling, convenient, and hot.
Dumplings also take centre stage, particularly in northern China, where people traditionally eat them after the winter solstice.
According to folklore, dumplings, shaped like ears, are eaten to prevent frostbite.
So, if you come to China in the winter months, you have picked up some tips for the best ways to keep warm, which have been tried and tested by Chinese people over centuries.
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That is the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read two of the new items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has launched an international programme on Synthetic Cells in South China's Shenzhen to promote frontier research in life sciences and biotechnological innovation on a global scale.
Leveraging the scientific prowess of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology under the academy, the program aims to tackle groundbreaking research questions in the field of synthetic biology.
Additionally, the initiative seeks to pool expertise worldwide and establish a cooperative paradigm to tackle common challenges faced by humanity.
Synthetic biology is the science of building systems that mimic the structure and function of living cells from scratch.
In recent years, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been committed to international collaborations in the field of synthetic cells.
In October 2023, the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology established the Asian Alliance for Synthetic Cells together with universities and research institutions from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
A memorandum of cooperation was signed this April to lay the foundation for broader international collaborative relationships.
You're Listening to Special English Imagine peering into the distant past by glimpsing the face of an ancient ancestor based on a technology.
Archaeologists in northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin provinces have turned this fantasy into reality.
Researchers have reconstructed the face of a man from the Hongshan culture who lived during the Neolithic age, offering modern audiences a glance at life over 5 ,000 years ago.
According to Li Haibou, deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology.
The reconstructed face belongs to a man estimated to be aged between 25 and 30 years old, and the relatively well -preserved skull was excavated from a tomb dating back to the Hongshan culture period, found in Chawyung City in Liaoning.
Researchers from the Liaoning Institute and the School of Archaeology at Jilin University to see, combined insights from diverse disciplines to determine the individual's gender and age, recreating facial features down to details including the eye, skin and hair color".
Li said that the project is the first reconstruction based on an actual Hong Shan ancestor's skull.
According to Guo Dao Shun, a prominent Chinese archaeologist, the Hong Shan culture is a significant marker of China's transition to the era of ancient states.
The discovery of this culture laid the foundation for understanding the diverse origins of Chinese civilisation.
Liu noted, that compared to traditional sculptural restoration methods, 3D technology offers greater scientific precision and improved efficiency.
China's advances in 3D technology are continuously providing valuable insights into archaeological discoveries, helping to reveal the true appearance of ancient people and deepening the understanding of history.
In May this year Hunan Museum in Chiangshua, in central China's Hunan province, released the image of a 3D digital figure of Xin Zui, one of the most famous wet mummies in the world.
While four months later archeologists in Hunan province unveiled facial reconstruction of two men who lived near the Yellow River during the Neolithic age.
That is the end of today's programme.
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