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New archaeological findings have revealed a significant number of painted bronze artifacts at the Sanxingdui ruins in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
This amazing discovery has extended the timeline for the emergence of painted bronze items in China by nearly a thousand years.
The findings were unveiled at the 2025
Sanxingdui Forum recently held in Deyang City of Sichuan by the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.
Spanning 12 square kilometers.
The Sanxingdui ruins are believed to be the remnants of the Shu Kingdom dating back 4500 to 3000 years.
About 3000 years ago, the people of Sanxingdui cast alloys of copper, tin and lead into various images, including giant sacred trees, massive masks and imposing deities.
The latest research indicated that these bronze artifacts were adorned with brilliant colors over their golden surfaces.
Ancient bronze artifacts often have a greenish hue, which is actually the result of corrosion that occurs after being buried underground for thousands of years.
This greenish tint obscures their original appearance, which was a dazzling shade of gold.
Through technological analysis, Archaeologists have unveiled the color code of Sanxingdui's bronze artifacts.
The colors discovered so far include black and red.
Black is commonly found in the eyebrows, eyes and hair of bronze figures and masks, and is also used to depict special patterns and symbols.
Red often appears on the petals of bronze sacred trees and in the intricate grooves of bronze vessels and the clothing of figures.
These painted designs have been found on hundreds of bronze figures, mythical beasts, dragon heads and other artifacts, some of which are even visible to the naked eye.
It was believed that painted bronze artifacts in China were mostly seen during the Warring States period, Qin and Han dynasties roughly spanning from 475 BC to 8 AD.
Liu said that the latest discovery, in large quantities and with exquisite craftsmanship and natural materials from Sanxingdui has pushed back the timeline for their emergence in China by nearly a thousand years.
Discovered in the late 1920s in Guanghan in Sichuan Province.
The Sanxingdui ruins are considered one of the world's most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
This is Special English.
The Metro System in Guangzhou.
The capital of South China's Guangdong Province, has begun accepting contactless payments with major international bank cards of MasterCard.
American Express, Visa, and JCB.
According to the subway operator Guangzhou Metro, the service allows passengers to tap their overseas issued cards, as well as domestically issued MasterCard and American Express cards with contactless payment and RMB transaction capabilities on designated fare gates for quick access at all stations.
This eliminates the need to purchase tickets or download apps in advance.
Following an earlier integration of UnionPay, the latest system enhancement means Guangzhou Metro now supports all five major card networks UnionPay MasterCard Visa, as well as JCB and American Express.
The simplified payment option is part of measures aimed at making travel easier for foreign nationals as China continues to expand its visa-free more international visitors.
According to the National Immigration Administration, foreign nationals made a total of 38 million trips to or from China in the first six months of this year, up 30 year-on-year.
Of these trips, were visa free entries, an increase of 53.9% from the same period last year.
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China Agricultural University has launched Shennong Large Model 30, signaling a major step toward making AI more accessible and practical for use in agriculture.
A key achievement is that this new model not only reduces computational demands substantially, but also boosts performance by 5 version.
He added that the model's architecture had been comprehensively redesigned to strike an optimal balance between being lightweight and delivering high performance.
This latest release builds upon critical groundwork laid by earlier versions.
Shennong 10 established core agricultural knowledge and question-answering capabilities, while Shen Nong 20 introduced multimodal functions and expanded the model's application across the agricultural sector.
The model is named in honor of Shen Nong.
A revered figure in Chinese mythology, known as the Divine Farmer, who is credited with teaching ancient Chinese people agricultural practices and the use of medicinal herbs.
Alongside the large model, the team also released an agent platform.
This platform fosters a lightweight deployable and collaborative AI ecosystem that covers the entire agricultural chain, offering 36 specialized agents organized into six categories, including smart breeding, planting and farming.
Wang said that these agents are designed for 36 distinct agricultural scenarios and can be integrated with agricultural machinery and sensors to enhance intelligent agricultural production, that pilot programs have already been deployed in several areas surrounding Beijing, as well as in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, providing localized services such as plant protection and customized guidance throughout the cultivation.
Wang added that the launch of Shennong Large Model 30 signals the arrival of a new phase in agricultural AI, one characterized by high efficiency, user-friendliness and technological self-reliance, thereby laying a solid foundation for the future of smart agriculture.
Since its inception in 2023, the Shen Nong Large Model has been trained on an extensive and specialized agricultural dataset.
Integrating over 10 million agricultural knowledge graphs, 50 million records of modern agricultural production data and 20000 agricultural records.
The China-Laos Railway has seen more than 60 million passenger trips since its launch, carrying 595000 cross-border travelers from 115 countries and regions as of October 8.
That is according to the China Railway Kunming Group.
To meet growing demand, this railway service added a second pair of international trains between Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Vientiane in Laos this July, doubling the number of daily trains to four.
Service enhancements include dedicated ticketing windows, support for foreign payment methods and optimized cross-border booking systems.
Passenger volume this year has reached 1548 million to date, a 23 year-on-year increase, reflecting This railway's important role in regional connectivity.
The China-Laos Railway officially opened in December 2021 and launched international services Linking Kunming and Vientiane in April 2023.
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A direct air route has launched between Singapore and the tourist city of Zhangjiajie in central China's Hunan province.
The new route uses Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft and operates round-trip flights every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Official data shows that in 2024, Zhangjiajie welcomed visitors from 183 countries and regions.
Singapore was the city's seventh largest source of inbound tourists that year, accounting for some 81000 arrivals.
Zhangjiajie, Known for its spectacular sandstone pillars and as the inspiration for the movie Avatar, has expanded its international tourism market.
Beyond established sources, He Chao, Deputy General Manager of Jiangjiajie Hehua International Airport, said that this year, With China's continued optimization of its visa-free transit policy, Zhangjiajie has opened 15 international or regional passenger routes.
He said that the airport now connects to 11 overseas destinations, including Seoul Jakarta Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong, handling more than 103 flights each week.
Zhangjiajie is a well-known Chinese tourist destination.
The city's Wulingyuan scenic area is a natural site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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Jinan, known as the City of Springs in East China's Shandong Province, has seen its iconic Baotu Springs reach its highest water level in nearly six decades.
Sources at the spring's scenic area revealed that, as of 6 am On October 14th, the spring's water level hit 3029 meters, the highest recorded since 1966.
Continuous rainfall since September 27th has led to a sustained rise in Baotou Springs groundwater level.
The increased water levels have also rejuvenated other renowned springs in Jinan.
Heihou Springs' water level reached 30.71 meters. with its waters spilling over into the pool.
Statistical data indicate Jinan's average annual rainfall reached 900 and 43 mm this year, 517 above the long-term average and 479 higher than the same period of last year.
As home to over 1,200 natural springs, Jinan counts Baotou Springs as its most renowned landmark.
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.
New archaeological findings have revealed a significant number of painted bronze artifacts at the Sanxingdui ruins in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
This amazing discovery has extended the timeline for the emergence of painted bronze items in China by nearly a thousand years.
The findings were unveiled at the 2025 Sanxingdui Forum recently held in Deyang City of Sichuan by the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.
Spanning 12 square kilometers.
The Sanxingdui ruins are believed to be the remnants of the Shu Kingdom dating back 4500 to 3000 years.
About 3000 years ago, the people of Sanxingdui cast alloys of copper, tin and lead into various images, including giant sacred trees, massive masks and imposing deities.
The latest research indicated that these bronze artifacts were adorned with brilliant colors over their golden surfaces.
Ancient bronze artifacts often have a greenish hue, which is actually the result of corrosion that occurs after being buried underground for thousands of years.
This greenish tint obscures their original appearance, which was a dazzling shade of gold.
Through technological analysis, archaeologists have unveiled the color code of Sanxingdui's bronze artifacts.
The colors discovered so far include black and red.
Black is commonly found in the eyebrows, eyes and hair of bronze figures and masks, and is also used to depict special patterns and symbols.
Red often appears on the petals of bronze sacred trees and in intricate grooves of bronze vessels and the clothing of figures.
These painted designs have been found on hundreds of bronze figures, mythical beasts, dragon heads and other artifacts, some of which are even visible to the naked eye.
According to Liu Baige, who is responsible for the findings at the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, It was previously believed that painted bronze artifacts in China were mostly seen during the Warring States period Qin and Han dynasties, roughly spanning from 475 BC to 8 AD.
Liu said that the latest discovery, in large quantities and with exquisite craftsmanship and natural materials from Sanxingdui has pushed back the timeline of their emergence in China by nearly a thousand years.
Discovered in the late 1920s in Guanghan in Sichuan province.
The Sanqingdui ruins are considered one of the world's most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
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