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Special English.
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A shipment of fresh Thai coconuts glided into Shenzhen's Shikou container terminal and was swiftly cleared by customs before reaching supermarket shelves across the Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau Greater Bay Area, while robotic arms at BYD's assembly line completed the final touches on new energy vehicles bound for the bustling streets of Bangkok.
This seamless exchange epitomizes the deepening trade ties between Shenzhen and Thailand, with trade volume hitting 9282 yuan, about 131 billion, in the first 10 months of this year, marking a 44 year-on-year increase.
The surge is driven by a blend of policy incentives, and market demand.
Liu Feng, a customs department manager at BYD, said that since the beginning of this year, the company has exported 11000 new energy vehicles Thailand a year-on-year increase of over 50, and the market response has been very positive.
The regional comprehensive economic partnership amplified this growth, with Shenzhen Customs issuing over 700 certificates of origin for BYD's exports to Thailand, covering goods worth 690 million yuan and saving the company more than 30 million yuan in tariffs.
From January to October, Shenzhen's electric vehicle exports to Thailand soared 991 to 128 billion yuan, underscoring China's prowess in green manufacturing.
Automobiles, high-tech products are flourishing.
At Shenzhen Le Chang Technology Company, stacks of high-performance audiovisual controllers awaited shipment to Thailand.
Zhong Jialing, head of the compliance department, said that with the rise of short video creation, the demand for portable high-performance audiovisual accessories in Thailand continues to grow.
Data shows that exports of electrical equipment and computer parts from Shenzhen to Thailand jumped 253 and 631 respectively, highlighting a shift toward high-value goods.
On the import side, Thai agricultural products are thriving in China's consumer market.
According to Wang Cong customs supervisor at a local import and export company, Thai young coconuts are perishable and require extremely fast customs clearance.
Thanks to a green channel for fresh goods at Shenzhen, Customs clearance is prioritized, ensuring freshness and boosting the company's fruit imports by 15 this year.
Similarly at a local fruit store technology company Thai durians can reach stores nationwide within a day.
Li Yan, customs director of the company, said that their three AEO-certified entities already benefited from low inspection rates since the china thailand aeo mutual recognition took effect in august.
Thai suppliers highly value this golden label and the company has seen a 15 percent rise in fruit imports.
The implementation of AEO, the Authorized Economic Operator, mutual recognition between Chinese and Thai customs has been pivotal.
Zeng Xiangping, Chief of the Enterprise Certification Section at Tongle Customs, said that customs authorities from both countries offer core facilitations like reduced inspection rates and priority checks for certified firms, saving significant time and costs.
This is Special English.
Hong Kong recorded about 41 million visitor arrivals in the first 10 months of this year, up 12 year on year.
That is according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Among them, approximately 314 million visitor arrivals were from the mainland, rising 11 from last year.
Visitor arrivals from elsewhere expanded 16% year-on-year to 9.6 million.
In October alone, provisional visitor arrivals in Hong Kong reached about 46 million, up 12 from the same month last year.
Paul Chen, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said that Hong Kong's economy was showing a momentum of accelerated development, with new growth advantages emerging.
Amid changes.
Chen said that Hong Kong's local market was gradually recovering, citing improved performance in the catering and retail sectors, as well as faster growth in private consumption expenditure in the third quarter.
As northern China slips into the winter chill, many residents may be unaware of the quiet shift in the energy sources now heating their homes.
Since November, centralized heating for 30 million square meters of indoor space in the city of Jinan in East China's Shandong Province has been powered by industrial waste heat recycled from two thermal plants, power plants located more than a hundred kilometers away.
Designed with four relay pumping stations and pipelines.
The hot steam generated by the power plants is pushed into the heating system in the urban area of Jinan.
By the end of this year.
The new energy will supply heating for 100 million square meters of indoor space in Jinan.
It is estimated that each heating season, the new energy can reduce the consumption of standard coal by 13 million tons and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 36 million tons.
Yu Changhao, Deputy General Manager of the Production Management Department of Jinan Heating Group, said that the company's smart dispatching center uses industrial internet and digital technology to enable an intelligent control of the pipelines.
You explain that, based on weather forecasts, historical data and real-time feedback from the user end, the system predicts the heating load for the next 72 hours and automatically commands the pump station and valves to respond with the stable and clean heat source.
The city is expected to phase out all of its 54 coal-fired boilers in the urban area within this year.
As the world's second largest city in terms of natural gas consumption, Beijing used 195 billion cubic meters in 2024, mainly for power generation and heating.
Yang Xiuling, director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said that, as the first city in China To fully achieve clean energy power generation, its coal consumption accounted for less than 1 of its total energy consumption in 2024.
The clean energy solution has contributed to improving the city's air quality.
The annual average concentration of PM25 in Beijing has dropped from 895 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 305 micrograms per cubic meter in 2024, a reduction of 659.
Elsewhere in the country, new technologies such as nuclear heating biomass, clean heating and air source heat pumps have been introduced.
Rural areas in large numbers to provide diversified clean heating solutions.
By the end of 2024, the cumulative number of clean energy heating users in northern China had reached 41 million.
This is Special English.
North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has treated 6688 million mu of desertified land over the past years.
That is according to the Regional Forestry and Grassland Bureau.
The achievement constitutes more than 40 of China's total desertification control from 2021 to 2025, reinforcing the ecological security barrier in northern China.
Inner Mongolia, home to four major deserts and four extensive sandy lands, is one of the areas most severely affected by desertification in China.
Authorities have pursued an integrated approach to ecosystem management in the region.
Desertification control measures include establishing a dedicated fund promoting public participation through incentive-based models, adopting new equipment and techniques and applying new methods such as photovoltaic-based sand stabilization.
Thanks to such efforts, the region's forest coverage rate has reached 2198, up 119 percentage points since 2021.
Also, grassland vegetation coverage in the region remains above 45%.
According to archaeologists, The Baojia Site in East China's Jiangsu Province has been confirmed to date back 7500 to 8100 years, making it the earliest known prehistoric site discovered so far in the area surrounding Taihu Lake.
Located in the city of Liyang.
The site covers an existing area of around 20000 to 30000 square meters.
Since 2023, a collaborative archaeological team from the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Nanjing Museum has been conducting excavations at the site with approval from the National Cultural Heritage Administration.
At the site, archaeologists have identified an ancient East-West River Channel.
Hu Yingfang, the lead archaeologist, said they had also made a significant discovery beneath this channel, an earlier river course, containing deposits measuring 25 meters deep.
These deposits are rich in organic remains and artifacts from ancient human activities.
The team's findings are exceptionally diverse and well preserved due to the water-saturated environment at the site.
They consist of various types of pottery, wooden artifacts, plant remains as well as animal remains and some woven objects such as ropes made from grass.
According to Hu, the water-logged conditions preserved a vast amount of organic material, which contains crucial environmental and cultural information which is helpful for reconstructing the lives of ancient inhabitants.
Radiocarbon dating of plant seeds from different layers at the site has indicated that the site dates back to 7500 to 8100 years ago.
Additionally, over 200 ash pits were uncovered on the site's eastern terrace.
Among these, one pit contained a complete dog skeleton.
Following field investigations and discussions.
Nearly 10 experts from institutions including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Nanjing University, Zhejiang University and Renmin University of China concluded that that the Baojia site is the earliest prehistoric site found to date around Taihu Lake.
They also recognized that this site possesses distinct cultural characteristics.
The discovery fills a critical gap in the Neolithic cultural timeline in this area and provides key evidence for tracing the origins of the Yangtze River civilization.
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.
Hong Kong recorded about 41 million visitor arrivals in the first 10 months of this year, up 12 year on year.
That is according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Among them, approximately 314 million visitor arrivals were from the mainland, rising 11 from last year.
Visitor arrivals from elsewhere expanded 16% year-on-year to 9.6 million.
In October alone, provisional visitor arrivals in Hong Kong reached about 46 million, up 12 from the same month last year.
Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said that Hong Kong's economy was showing a momentum of accelerated development, with new growth advantages emerging amid changes.
Chan said that Hong Kong's local market was gradually recovering, citing improved performance in the catering and retail sectors, as well as faster growth in private consumption expenditure in the third quarter.
This is the end of today's program.
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