The world is changing fast, but you can learn it at a slower pace.
Special English You're listening to Special English.
Here's the news... Huang Mau Hai Link, a cross -sea passage in the Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau Greater Bay area, has recently opened to traffic.
The project's construction started in June 2020 and serves as another major cross -sea passage following the Hong Kong Zhu Hai Makao Bridge and the Shenzhen Zhongshan link in the Greater Bay area.
The project is designed as a six -lane expressway with a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour.
It starts in Pingsha town in the city of Juhai and ends in Dolsan town in the city of Taishan, spanning approximately 31 km.
The link's cross -sea section stretches about 14 km and includes two main bridges.
as the western extension of the Hong Kong -Juhai -Makao Bridge, the project closely connects the cities of Jiangmen and Juhai with Makao and Hong Kong administrative regions.
According to Li Qiang, Deputy Director of the project's management center, during the design and routing phase, the project proactively avoided ecologically sensitive areas, and during construction ecological monitoring and response assessments were conducted for bird species, effectively protecting the habitats of egrets and other birds.
The opening of the passage has cut the travel time between Juhai and Jiangmun from over an hour to about 30 minutes.
Lin Fei Ming, head of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transport, noted that the Huangmao Hai project will boost the Greater Bay Area's connectivity and economic integration, and is crucial for Guangdong's Regional Development Initiatives and building the Greater Bay Area into a world -class transportation hub.
This is special English.
China's central bank has begun to issue a set of commemorative coins and notes to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, which falls on January 29, 2025.
According to the People's Bank of China, the set consists of a gold coin, a silver coin, a copper alloy coin, and a note.
The coins feature traditional Chinese auspicious elements, symbolizing happiness and blessings.
The note displays children celebrating the Chinese New Year with traditional Chinese residences in the background.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has inscribed Spring Festival social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional New Year on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Rooted in the Chinese culture, the Spring Festival marks the first day of the listening to special English.
Chinese social media has reacted with interest and some confusion to the news that one of the country's most important holidays will technically disappear from the calendar for five years, starting from 2025.
Chinese New Year's Eve is one of the highlights of the Spring Festival holiday when families across the country reunite to share a lavish meal and ring in the New Year by setting off fireworks, exchanging gifts and hanging red banners decorated with rhyming couplets.
The festivities normally take place on the 30th day of of the 12th lunar month, known as Danyin Shanxi in Chinese, in China's traditional calendar.
But a quirk in the lunar solar cycle means the day is set to be skipped for the next half decade.
Like every calendar, the traditional Chinese calendar does not match up exactly with the movements of the sun and moon.
meaning that some adjustments have to be made occasionally to correct for these small discrepancies.
In the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the solar cycle.
This is done by adding an extra day in February once every four years, known as a leap year.
But the Chinese system is mostly based on the lunar cycle and has a different method.
The length of the lunar month fluctuates slightly throughout the year, ranging from 29 .27 days to 29 .82 days.
The Chinese system corrects for these changes by dividing the calendar into big months, lasting 30 days and little months, lasting 29 days.
If the last month of the year happens to be a little month, then the thirtieth day will be skipped over, meaning that da 'nyin sanshe will disappear from the calendar that year, though it is far from unusual for da 'nyin sanshe to be skipped over in a given year, experts said that it is relatively rare for this to happen five years in a row.
The news has attracted significant interest on Chinese social media in recent days, with a related hashtag receiving more than 12 million views on the microblogging platform Weibo.
The reaction has mostly been one of amusement.
comment, one commenter jokingly blamed the moon for the change, writing, it's all the moon's fault.
Another said that as they were born on the 30th day of the 12th lunar month they wouldn't have another birthday until 2030.
30. There were also some worries that the public holiday for Chinese New Year's Eve might disappear in years without a Dan Nian San She, but officials have reassured the public that this is not the case as Chinese New Year's Eve will simply be celebrated on the 29th day of the 12th lunar month instead.
The Chinese government recently announced that starting from next year the country will grant an extra day of public holiday for Chinese New Years Eve, meaning that the 2025 Spring Festival holiday will last eight days from January 28th, the 29th day of the 12th lunar month to February 4, the seventh day of the first lunar month.
The run -up to the holiday sees an enormous spike in travel each year as hundreds of millions Questions of people return to their home -towns to visit their relatives or increasingly jet off on vacation.
The Spring Festival is also a make or break period for businesses across a swath of industries from food companies to film studios.
This is Special English.
You'll be listening to programmes from CGTN radio.
We invite you to visit us online for more audio, pictures and in -depth reports.
At radio .cgtn .com you can access a wide range of programmes and find your favorite news, talk, features, entertainment shows, and podcasts.
Hear the difference with CTTN radio.
showing strong signs of recovery after being rescued by an elephant breeding and rescue center in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
The elephant has improved to the point where it is able to walk normally again.
The Xishuongbana Asian elephant breeding and rescue center said that the injured calf was found in August in Dardugang township in Jinghong City.
Drone monitoring identified a visible scar on the calf's right hind leg, causing it to limp while walking.
According to Wang Bin, Director of the Asian Elephant Protection and Management Centre in Xishuanbanna, staffers rushed to the scene and provided the young elephant with glucose and milk powder the following day.
they also cleaned and treated the wound on its leg before transferring it to the nearby village for recovery and rest.
When the calf first arrived at the rescue center, it stood at just 90 centimeters tall and weighed about 100 kilograms.
To date, its height has increased to 130 centimeters and it weighs over 300 kilograms.
Mo Shireu, a staffer at the Rescue Center, noted that they would take the calf out for training in the wild every day to maintain its survival skills.
The Xishuangbanna Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center is the only research base in China, focused on the rescue, care and breeding of Asian elephants.
Since its establishment in 2009, the center has successfully rescued and rehabilitated 25 Wild Asian elephants, a species under first class national protection in China.
You're listening to Special English.
Winter Solstice, or dong zhi, in Chinese, falls on December 21st this year.
The character dong means winter and zhi here means extreme or utmost.
On this day the northern hemisphere experiences the shortest day and the longest night of the year.
While the solar term often comes with nice traditions like eating jiaozu dumplings and tangyuan glutinous rice dumplings, There is another fascinating tradition you may not know about.
When the winter solstice or dongjir arrives, the tradition of shu -jio begins.
shu jīo means counting in nines, with shu, meaning to count, and jīo being the number nine.
Ancient Chinese divided the days after dōng zhīr into nine sections, with nine days in each.
After eighty -one days, it will be time for Spring to arrive.
But why the number nine?
In Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang symbolize the duality and interconnectedness of all things in the universe.
Yang signifies brightness, warmth and activity while yin represents darkness, coldness and inactivity.
Ancient Chinese thought everything contained yin and yang and they associated the odd numbers with young and even numbers with yin.
Hence, number nine being the largest single -digit odd number is considered to have the utmost young energy, and counting in nines signifies the waning of coldness and the advent of warmth.
The practice of counting in nines embodies the collective observation and experience of ancient Chinese regarding climate patterns.
Among the various traditions of counting in nines, a folk crime stands out as one of the most popular.
It contains observations of changes seen as the days go by, people putting their hands in pockets to keep them warm during the first and second nines, walking on ice in the third and and fourth nines, seeing willows budding in the fifth and sixth nines, rivers thawing in the seventh nines, swallows sprouting in the eighth nines, and finally in the ninth and tenth nines, the spring arrives and oxen begin ploughing the fields.
Even today the traditional method of counting in nines to predict changes in weather and the arrival of spring are still common for the Chinese people.
Although the rhyme may vary, depending on the region where people live, this cultural tradition endures, representing an ongoing pursuit of warmth, vitality, and hope.
This is Special English.
That's the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read one of the news items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully.
China's central bank has begun to issue a set of commemorative coins and notes to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, which falls on January 29, 2025.
According to the People's Bank of China, the set consists of a gold coin, a silver coin, a copper alloy coin, and a note.
The coins feature traditional Chinese auspicious elements, symbolizing happiness and blessings.
The note displays children celebrating the Chinese new year with traditional Chinese residences in the background.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has inscribed spring festival social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Roted in the Chinese culture, the Spring Festival marks the first day of the Lunar Calendar and symbolizes renewal and family unity.
This is the end of today's program.
I hope you'll join us every day to learn English at a slower pace.
