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With vibrant hues and intricate designs, China Chic Stationery has been grabbing attention around the world.
This unique blend of traditional Chinese elements and modern design has become a new favorite among international buyers.
In Zhejiang Yizhong Cultural Supplies Company, an enterprise that integrates the production sales, research and development of stationery.
The excitement is palpable.
According to Zhang Ying, the company's director of human resources and administration, in recent years, as Chinese cultural IPs have gained more attention globally, The company started to export its own brands last year, and the design team has also grown from just four or five people to over 20 now.
The company holds the official licenses for several popular IPs, such as Sanrio, Ultraman and Transformers, and has also independently developed a range of stationary IPs like Carrot Akun, Bear and Unicorn.
These products have found their way into more than 20 countries and regions, including Europe, the United States Japan, the Republic of Korea and Southeast Asia.
According to Zhang, from January to July this year, the company achieved an export turnover of over 30 million yuan, about 42 million US dollars, up 50 year on year, with about 40 of the total coming from its own brands.
This remarkable growth is not an isolated case.
Yiwu, a city often dubbed the world's supermarket for its expertise in consumer goods, manufacturing exported stationary products worth 410 million yuan from January to July this year, up 123 year on year.
Home to more than 3000 stationary and cultural creativity enterprises.
Yiwu has embraced an innovative model that connects source factories directly with buyers during product ordering meetings.
Giant panda-themed stationery developed by Chinese companies is very popular overseas.
Huang Changchao, president of the Yiwu Cultural Products Industry Association, said that some companies have developed stationery products based on the ancient Chinese myth classic of mountains and seas in order to gradually open up the European and American markets.
Huang noted that, thanks to ongoing advancements in AR technology, scanning the cover of a notebook can now even trigger an English explanation of animations from the four great classical novels in Chinese literature.
Huang added that China-chic cultural products have performed well in overseas markets, with small stationary items serving as a big window to showcase Chinese culture.
Data from local customs showed that from January to July this year, Zhejiang exported stationery products such as ballpoint pens, pencils and erasers worth 105 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 89 percent.
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China's newly released measures to increase service consumption have drawn significant attention, with officials and experts saying the package will optimize service supply, stimulate new demand, promote high-quality development and improve people's well-being.
These measures, rolled out by nine government organs, outline 19 tasks. in five areas.
Vice Minister of Commerce Xiangqiu Ping, highlighted the focus of the measures, namely cultivating service consumption platforms, enriching high-quality supply, stimulating new demand and strengthening fiscal and financial support.
Shung said the measures link livelihood improvement with consumption promotion, aiming to raise living standards while unleashing new demand.
Examples include developing well-known sports events and leagues, expanding long-term care insurance coverage and supporting community-based child care services to better meet people's everyday needs.
Shung added that, on the demand side, measures include stronger credit support, consumption campaigns and extended service hours to stimulate the willingness and capacity to spend.
Measures will also be rolled out to widen market access in areas such as telecommunications, healthcare and education, while steps will be taken to improve visa and payment facilitation for foreigners in China and foster international markets for medical and exhibition services.
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, has also stepped up support for service consumption.
In May, it launched a 500 billion yuan about 70 billion US dollars re-lending facility for service consumption and elderly care, guiding financial institutions to increase lending to sectors such as catering culture, education and tourism.
Yang Hong, an official with the Central Bank, said that, together with an expanded relending program for technological innovation and equipment upgrading, these tools are helping channel more credit to service-related.
Young added that, beyond monetary tools, the central bank has also urged financial institutions to innovate products and expand credit supply for key consumption areas covering food housing, travel and entertainment.
By the end of July this year, outstanding loans in major service consumption sectors nationwide had reached 279 trillion yuan, up 53 year on year.
Observers have said that, as these measures take effect, service consumption is expected to gradually become a leading driver of domestic demand, thus playing a larger role in improving people's well-being and supporting China's high-quality development.
You're listening to Special English.
An international telescope collaboration has unveiled new detailed images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, revealing a dynamic environment with changing polarization patterns near the black hole.
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration including astronomers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has published the images and results in the latest issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics the supermassive black hole at the heart of Messier 87.
A galaxy roughly 55 million light years from Earth was first photographed in 2017 and the images released in 2019, marking humanity's inaugural site of a black hole.
In 2018 and 2021, the researchers aimed their telescopes at the same celestial body once again.
The finding this time is the distilled product of all three observation campaigns and displays how the black hole's magnetic wardrobe has changed across the years.
In 2017, the magnetic fields appeared to spiral one way, while by 2018 they had settled.
However, in 2021 they had reversed. spiraling in the opposite direction.
According to the study, these changes suggest an evolving turbulent environment where magnetic fields play a vital role in governing how matter falls into the black hole and how energy is launched outward.
In analyzing telescope data, the team also found the first signatures of the extended jet emission near the Black Hole's jet base, which connects to the ring around M87.
Jets like M87s play a crucial role in galaxy evolution by regulating star formation and distributing energy on vast scales.
M87's powerful jet provides a unique laboratory to study how these cosmic phenomena form and are launched, offering a vital piece of the puzzle.
This is Special English.
Shanghai Disney Resort has announced that it will expand its iconic attraction soaring over the horizon.
It offers people an immersive experience of a magical flight across the globe.
The expansion is expected to see an approximately 50% increase in the current capacity.
The attraction will remain open during the expansion phase.
Shanghai Disney Resort which opened in June 2016, welcomed 14 million visitors in 2023.
It continues to expand since its opening.
Currently two other major expansion projects, the Spider-Man themed land and a third Disney-themed hotel in the resort are also under construction following the opening of the Disney Pixar Toy Story Land in April 2018 and Zootopia in December 2023.
Shanghai in East China is becoming a key investment destination for international theme park operators as they seek to capitalize on China's expanding entertainment and travel markets.
Legoland Shanghai Resort threw open its doors in July, heralding the arrival of China's first Legoland resort.
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The Hong Kong section of the high-speed railway connecting the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong has recorded over 90 million passenger trips since it was put into operation.
That is according to the railway operator MTR Corporation.
Launched seven years ago, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has remained highly popular among commuters.
In the first eight months of this year, passenger trips on the section rose nearly 20 from a year ago to 20 million, with August alone witnessing over 32 million passenger trips, a new monthly record since it entered into service.
The MTR Corporation said that the record-breaking passenger volume highlighted the growth momentum fueled by integration between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.
The company also pledged to further strengthen the Express Rail Link's role as a key regional transport hub, while continuing to improve service.
The Hong Kong section of the line now operates over 100 pairs of trains daily connecting the city with 96 mainland stations.
This is Special English.
China has established 63 vocational undergraduate universities in the past five years.
That is according to Xiong Sihou, Vice Minister of Education.
China is home to 87 vocational undergraduate universities, 9302 secondary vocational schools and 1562 vocational colleges, with the total number of students reaching 34 million.
Xiong said that with these figures, China has built the world's largest vocational education system.
He added that these institutions offer 1434 majors, covering every industrial category listed in the United Nations Industrial Classification.
In addition, China has also promoted the integration of industries and education to better align talent cultivation with regional economic and industrial development.
You're listening to 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.
An international telescope collaboration has unveiled new detailed images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, revealing a dynamic environment with changing polarization patterns near the black hole.
The Event Horizon Telescope.
Collaboration including astronomers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has published the images and results in the latest issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The supermassive black hole at the heart of Messier 87, a galaxy roughly 55 million light-years from Earth, was first photographed in 2017 and the images released in 2019, marking humanity's inaugural sight of a black hole.
In 2018 and 2021, the researchers aimed their telescopes at the same celestial body once again.
The finding this time is the distilled product of all three observation campaigns and displays how the black hole's magnetic wardrobe has changed across the years.
In 2017, the magnetic fields appeared to spiral one way, while by 2018, they had settled.
However, in 2021, they had reversed, spiraling in the opposite direction.
According to the study, these changes suggest an evolving turbulent environment where magnetic fields play a vital role in governing how matter falls into the black hole and how energy is launched outward.
In analyzing telescope data, The team also found the first signatures of the extended jet emissions near the black hole's jet base, which connects to the ring around M87.
Jets like M87s play a crucial role in galaxy evolution by regulating star formation and distributing energy on vast scales.
M87's powerful jet provides a unique laboratory to study how these cosmic phenomena form and are launched, offering a vital piece of the puzzle.
This is the end of today's program.
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