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North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has launched a five-month ice-snow tourism season featuring 159 cultural activities, 48 sporting events and 45 themed travel routes, as part of of a nationwide push to develop China's ice and snow economy driven by winter tourism.
According to Wang Shengrong, deputy director of the regional culture and tourism department, starting from december 20th, the 2025 through 2026, Inner Mongolia winter tourism season will feature major events, including the 22nd China-Russia-Mongolia International Ice and Snow Festival in Manchuria, a border city in Inner Mongolia.
The move comes as China promotes its ice and snow economy under a state-level plan targeting trillion yuan about US169 billion in terms of industry scale by 2027 and 15 trillion yuan by 2030.
Several regions have recently unveiled new attractions and incentives To boost winter tourism.
In northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Harbin Ice-Snow World, the world's largest ice and snow resort theme park, is expanding, featuring a total of over 400000 cubic meters of ice and snow.
The neighboring Jilin Park province meanwhile, is issuing 100 million yuan in winter tourism vouchers and offering discounted shuttle services ski resorts.
Additionally, Altai Prefecture, a popular ski destination in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has introduced a student nine-day snow break to encourage participation in skiing.
Back in Inner Mongolia.
Cities are highlighting local features such as volcanic skiing and snowmobiling.
This region will distribute tourism vouchers and create ski hot spring combo tickets to lower costs.
Heated rest areas, hot drinks and extended venue hours will also be provided to boost winter comfort levels.
While a chill has gripped most areas of China.
In Dongfang, a coastal city in South China's Hainan Province, runners in short-sleeved shirts were running a half marathon under warm sunshine.
Wang Wandong from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province said The weather there is perfect for long-distance running.
As a key hub on Hainan's western coast, Dongfang has transformed sports events into a new driver of vitality, consumption and industrial upgrading.
Events like half marathons and rural basketball tournaments, known as Chunbi-e, help maintain the city's vitality in winter.
With a mild and dry climate, Dongfang is an ideal place for outdoor activities.
According to Zhuang, director of the Dongfang Bureau of Tourism Culture Radio, Television and Sports.
The city has now built four hundred and seventeen basketball courts, and almost every village has one.
Cunbi A swept through Dongfang from November to December last year, attracting 460000 spectators and 320 million Online views.
Zhou Shu Kai, a player from Xiang Rong village, said that they all love playing basketball.
They would gather for training on weekends and fight for the honor of the village.
During last year's tournament, Dong Fang recorded some two hundred and eleven thousand tourist visits, more than seventy thousand overnight stays and a hundred and forty thousand day trippers, contributing 198 million yuan to tourism revenue.
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China has inched closer toward its ambitious goal of building on the moon, as the first set of experimental lunar soil bricks returned to Earth after a year-long exposure to the harsh environment of space.
The bricks, part of a pioneering experiment aboard China's space station, arrived aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft.
Experts confirmed that the sample unit was in good condition following initial inspections.
This signals an engineering progress in China's long-term lunar program, which includes landing astronauts on the moon by 2030 and constructing a basic model of the International Lunar Research Station by 2035.
The experiment began in November 2024, when the Tianzhou cargo ship ferried the simulated lunar soil samples up to the space station.
A total of 74 small bricks were were designed to be mounted on an external exposure platform on the station's exterior.
According to the team Led by Ding Liayun, a scientist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the project will see the return of sample batches after 1, 2 and 3 years for detailed analysis.
By analyzing the chemical fingerprint of authentic lunar specimens brought back by China's Chang'e-5 mission.
Ding's team engineered a regolith simulant and pressed it into bricks through hot press sintering.
They opted for volcanic ash from Changbai Mountain in northeast China's Jilin Province, which closely mirrors the composition of lunar regolith.
The resulting blocks share the density of conventional bricks, yet boast more than triple their compressive strength, remaining stable across the Moon's brutal temperature swings ranging from minus 190 degrees Celsius, 180 degrees Celsius and under constant cosmic radiation.
Ding said that for constructing lunar scientific facilities, utilizing locally sourced materials from the moon is the preferred approach.
From traditional Chinese masonry techniques featuring mortise-tenon structure, the team has developed a way to center simulated moon dust into bricks of various sizes.
The sintering process is expected to be powered by concentrated solar energy on the Moon.
They also developed a robotic system to handle the assembly-like Lego blocks, with the final step involving the use of 3d printing to reinforce the structure.
Next, the scientists plan analyze the returned bricks to understand how the space environment has altered their structure and properties.
This data is vital for creating accurate models to predict the long-term durability and behavior of such materials in the actual lunar environment, providing the scientific foundation for future extraterrestrial construction.
This is Special English. as they diversify their portfolios to hedge against geopolitical risks.
That is according to Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.
Chan said that global investors have found a safe Haven in Hong Kong, citing a 10 year-on-year growth of total deposits in the city's bank so far this year.
Other indications of global investors liking to hong kong included world leading total value of initial Zippy expansion of the wealth management sector and ever-deepening financial cooperation with other markets the world.
Chan also noted that Hong Kong registered an 113 growth in goods export in the first three quarters.
To keep up the momentum.
Chan said the Hong Kong SAR government will work to upgrade the city's shipping industry and play up its strengths as a shipping center and a hub for mega events.
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China's population of captive giant pandas has nearly doubled over the past decade.
Reaching a total of 808, this growth has established a sustainable breeding group for the species.
That is according to Liu Guohong, head of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
The population represents A significant rise from the 422 recorded in late 2015, thanks to improved breeding research, including establishing a National Innovation Alliance for Giant Panda Conservation, which pools resources for the study of key issues such as genetic diversity.
Liu said that the conservation efforts have also made use of advanced, with authorities deploying an integrated space-air-ground monitoring system to track wild giant pandas.
China has improved the protection of giant panda habitats.
73 isolated nature reserves were integrated into the giant panda national park, which covers a total of 22 000 square kilometers.
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The number of bird species at Xionghai Lake in the city of Xichang in southwest China's Sichuan Province has reached a record high of 310 this year, with a growing number of migratory birds becoming permanent residents thanks to improved ecological conditions.
The Xionghai National Wetland Park Conservation Center reported the increase, attributing it to enhanced environmental restoration and reduced human disturbance.
Yang Jun, a senior engineer with Xichang Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said that seven migratory species, including the Eurasian coot and Asian otter open bill, have now settled as residents.
Monitoring data showed that the lake had hosted a hundred and twenty bird species in 2014, with the figure rising to 302 by 2024, before hitting the current total 310.
Among these species, 5 are 1st class and 47 2nd class nationally recognized protected birds, including rare species like the Chinese merganser, which are thriving at this lake, Xionghai Lake.
Sichuan's second largest inland lake faced severe degradation from the 1960s to 1990s due to land reclamation, shrinking its size and slashing the number of bird species there to just over 20.
Recent conservation efforts, such as projects to restore lakeside zones, relocate more than 50000 residents and create 20000 mu.
About 1,333 hectares of wetlands have revived over 30 kilometers of natural shorelines.
Birdwatchers have noted expanded habitats and increased diversity in this area, with Xionghai now listed among Sichuan's top bird-watching sites.
China, a key migratory corridor with four out of nine major global flyways, has established more than 2200 wetland protected areas and 82 internationally important wetlands, maintaining stable wetland coverage amid international environmental commitments.
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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.
In Dongfang, a coastal city in south China's Hainan province, runners in short-sleeved shirts were running a half-marathon under warm sunshine.
Wang Wandong from northeast China's Heilongjiang province said that the weather there is perfect for long-distance running.
As a key hub on Hainan's western coast, Dongfang has transformed sports events into a new driver of vitality, consumption and industrial upgrading.
Events like half marathons and rural basketball tournaments, known as cunbi-ei, help maintain the city's vitality in winter.
With a mild and dry climate, Dongfang is an ideal place for outdoor activities.
According to Zhuang Tian, director of the Dongfang Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, The city has now built 417 basketball courts, and almost every village has one.
Cunbi-A swept through Dongfang from November to December last year, attracting 460000 spectators and 320 million online views.
Zhou Xu Kai, a player from Xiangrong Village, said that they all love playing basketball.
They would gather for training on weekends and fight for the honor of the village.
During last year's tournament, Dongfang recorded some 211000 tourist visits, more than 70000 overnight stays and 140000 day-trippers, contributing 198 million yuan about 279 million US dollars to tourism revenue.
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