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Here is the news.
A collaborative exhibition featuring cultural heritage collections from museums of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Member States has launched in Beijing.
Hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The exhibition runs until November 16th at the National Museum of China.
Themed on respecting diverse civilizations and pursuing common development.
The exhibition presents a total of 220 precious cultural relics from ten museums in Shanghai.
Cooperation Organization countries.
Among them are symbolic cultural relics from the stages of origin, development and evolution of ancient civilizations, as well as representative cultural relics highlighting the exchanges and interactions among different countries in history.
According to Wang Zhiqiang, a researcher at the National Museum of China, these relics not only reflect the rich cultures of these countries, but also demonstrate the historical process of cultural dialogue, mutual learning and mutual influence among Shanghai cooperation organization countries through the ancient Silk Road.
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East China's Shanghai Municipality has built over 1000 parks, including 522 urban parks, 371 pocket parks, 119 forest recreation parks and one theme park.
According to the Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau, as a metropolis with limited land resources, Shanghai has creatively expanded its green spaces by transforming idle land, under-utilised areas and spaces under elevated roads.
Additionally, green spaces belonging to institutions, schools and enterprises have been opened to the public, adding over 100 hectares of accessible greenery.
The Bureau said that since 2021, Shanghai has increased its total parkland area by over 2500 hectares, raising its per capita green space from 85 to 95 square metres.
According to bureau official Guan Chunfei, over the next five years Shanghai aims to build more than 500 additional parks and increase its per capita green space by another square metre.
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A pet waiting lounge has recently opened at Hangzhou Shaoshan International Airport in East China's Zhejiang Province, part of the country's continuing efforts to improve pet travel services in response to the growing pet economy.
Covering 220 square metres.
The lounge is equipped with an intelligent monitoring system that regulates temperature, humidity and air quality.
It includes separate areas for cats and dogs and is capable of accommodating 30 cats and 20 dogs.
Each pet is provided with a smart carrier that supports remote monitoring and voice interaction, enabling owners to check their pet's status in real time and comfort them if needed.
With the robust growth of the pet economy, pet owners are demanding higher standards of safety, comfort and convenience for pet travel.
Wu Qirong, a staff member at the airport, said that the lounge helps solve problems associated with traditional pet transportation, such as overcrowded cages, complicated procedures and insufficient care.
The airport also offers extended services for pet air travel, including ticket booking, dedicated pick-up and drop-off and quarantine arrangements.
According to an industry white paper, the value of China's urban pet, dog and cat sector reached 3002 billion yuan in 2024, up 75 year-on-year.
With the pet population nationwide, exceeding 120 million.
China's first airport pet lounge was launched in 2024 at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in the southern province of Guangdong.
China aims to achieve breakthroughs in the application of artificial intelligence in key sectors by 2027.
At a press briefing, Huo Fupeng, Director of the Innovation Driven Development Centre under the National Development and Reform Commission, described the coming one to two years as a critical window for AI deployment.
He urged the mobilisation of resources across society to drive progress in six priority areas, namely science and technology, industry consumption, as well as public welfare, governance and global cooperation.
Hawes remarks came as China published a set of guidelines last month on deeply implementing the AI Plus initiative, which lays out a systemic approach to strengthen AI-supportive infrastructure and accelerate the integration of AI technology across economic and social domains.
According to Hoare, the new policy document is a key step in cultivating new quality productive forces and a necessary move for promoting the digital economy's transformation into a smart economy and an intelligent society.
The document outlines three milestone goals.
By 2027, new generation intelligent terminals and agents are expected to reach a penetration rate of more than 70, with the core industries of the intelligent economy expanding rapidly.
By 2030, that penetration rate should surpass 90, enabling AI to become a significant economic driver.
By 2035, China aims to fully enter a new phase of an intelligent economy and intelligent social development.
The National Development and Reform Commission emphasised that the latest move is only the first step, which will be followed by a mix of policy tools, financial support and institutional innovation.
Jiang Kailin, Deputy Secretary, Director of the Commission's Department of Innovation and High-Tech Development, said the National Development and Reform Commission will introduce more detailed sector-specific plans and clearer policy guidance, while expediting the development of standards to promote data sharing, model interoperability and coordinated growth of AI systems.
He also stressed the importance of government-led investment to support AI innovation, including optimising the distribution of computing resources to reduce research and development costs, building shared technology platforms, as well as expanding the application in critical scenarios and promoting the use of AI-enabled products among the public.
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China's first factory dedicated to the production of photonic quantum computers has recently broken ground in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong province.
Once completed, the facility is expected to manufacture dozens of photonic quantum computers annually, establishing a mass production capacity for specialised machines.
The news has been confirmed by the Science and Technology Innovation Bureau of Shenzhen's Nanshan District.
The factory will be built and operated by Q Boson, a leading Chinese quantum computing company based in Beijing.
Wen Kai, the founder of Q Boson, said that quantum computing carries a massive information capacity and ultra-strong parallel processing power, allowing an exponential acceleration in solving certain computationally difficult problems.
Wen said that photonic quantum computing is a technology that leverages The quantum properties of light for computation and is considered a mainstream quantum computing approach compared to other technological paths.
Photonic quantum computing does not require ultra-low temperatures and offers multiple advantages, including a high number of qubits, stable operation at room temperature and long coherence times.
When noted that the new facility will include three main operational divisions module development, full system production and manufacturing, and quality control and testing.
Construction of the factory is currently underway, with equipment expected to be deployed gradually by the end of October.
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Chinese researchers say they have confirmed the presence of a dugong, one of the oldest marine mammals on Earth, in waters off Yongshu Reef in the area of China's Nansha Islands, marking the first such sighting in the area and in the central South China Sea over the last three decades.
Dugong Activity has been repeatedly observed near the reef since early July.
That is according to researchers at an ecological and environmental research station operated by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
They noted that the sightings fill a species distribution gap for the area.
The herbivorous mammal which is said to have inspired Chinese mermaid legends is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species and also categorised as a national first-class protected wildlife species in China.
Island environmental patrols first spotted the large animal surfacing for air southwest of the reef on July 8th.
Close-range observations were made and video evidence was captured on August 2nd and August 3rd.
Qin Geng, a marine researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, said this discovery provides crucial clues about the species' transoceanic migration patterns under the dual stressors of climate change and human interference.
Dugongs can grow up to three meters in length and play a vital role in maintaining seagrass bed vitality and habitat biodiversity.
The last confirmed dugong sighting from the Chinese mainland was a dead specimen found in Dongfeng in the southern island province of Hainan in 2008.
The species was reported to be functionally extinct in the coastal waters of the Chinese mainland in 2022.
Scientists say that dugongs usually form small family groups of two to three individuals, making this lone appearance an anomaly that requires further monitoring and investigation.
Song Qingyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted that the Dugong sighting complements earlier recorded sightings of protected green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles near Yongshu Reef.
Underscoring the reef's ecological value.
He said that the dugong's presence confirms the integrity of seagrass ecosystems in the area.
That is the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read two of the news items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully.
The exhibition runs till November 16th at the National Museum of China.
Themed on respecting diverse civilizations and pursuing common development.
The exhibition presents a total of 220 precious cultural relics from 10 museums of Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries.
Among them are symbolic cultural relics during the stages of origin, development and evolution of ancient civilizations, as well as representative cultural relics highlighting the exchanges and interactions among different countries in history.
According to Wang Zheqiang, a researcher at the National Museum of China, these relics not only reflect the rich cultures of these countries, but also demonstrate the historical process of cultural dialogue, mutual learning and mutual influence among Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries through the ancient Silk Road.
A pet waiting lounge has recently opened at Hangzhou Shaoshan International Airport in East China's Zhejiang Province, part of the country's continuing efforts to improve pet travel services in response to the growing pet economy.
Covering 220 square metres.
The lounge is equipped with an intelligent monitoring system that regulates temperature, humidity and air quality.
It includes separate areas for cats and dogs and is capable of accommodating 30 cats and 20 dogs.
Each pet is provided with a smart carrier that supports remote monitoring and voice interaction, enabling owners to check their pet's status in real time and comfort them if needed.
With a robust growth of the pet economy, Pet owners are demanding higher standards of safety, comfort and convenience for pet travel.
Wuqi Rong, a staff member at the airport, said that the lounge helps solve problems associated with traditional pet transportation, such as overcrowded cages, complicated procedures and insufficient care.
The airport also offers extended services for pet air travel, including ticket booking, dedicated pick-up and drop-off and quarantine arrangements.
According to an industry white paper, the value of China's urban pet dog and cat sector reached 3002 billion yuan today, around US422 billion in 2024, up 75 year-on-year, with the pet population nationwide exceeding 120 million.
China's first airport pet lounge was opened in 2024 at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport in the southern province of Guangdong.
That is the end of today's programme.
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