The world is changing fast but you can learn it at a slower pace.
Special English You're listening to Special English.
Here is the news. First emerging as a concept in Europe around the mid 20th century, industrial tourism, which involves visiting factories, vineyards, and other sites of industrial heritage, began taking root in China in the late nineties.
Over the years, it has flourished into a lucrative sector thanks to growing investment and government support.
The country now has more than one thousand industrial tourism sites nationwide, ranging from century -old steel mills in northeastern China, to gleaming high -tech electric vehicle plants in the south.
Many cities and provinces have included industrial tourism as a key ingredient in their policies to boost the local tourism market.
For example, Shanghai's three -year tourism development plan released in February, highlights the potential for converting abandoned factories into immersive cultural attractions, helping local businesses through ticket sales and spin -offs, while preserving the city's industrial heritage.
Beijing was also drafting plans in March to integrate its tech hubs into tourism routes, such as with tours that pair cutting -edge robotics factories and driverless car laboratories with views of the ancient Great Wall, Jiang Zahan, a 23 -year -old journalism student and social media content creator sees industrial tourism as a way to acquire knowledge and disseminate culture.
She has recently explored such projects in Zhongshan, a city in the southern province of Guangdong, including an almond cake factory and a soy sauce museum.
What struck her most were the stories behind the products, such as how Chubang Soy Sauce, a local speciality brand, is closely linked with the area's dry climate, and requires distinct production methods.
Jiang said that she not only visited, but also experienced the production process firsthand, and got a taste on -site, adding that she would be more willing to purchase these products because this kind of experience had helped her gain a deeper understanding and trust. Feng, a 26 year old Shanghai resident has visited several of the city's hardcore industrial sites such as Jianhua Heavy Industries and the Jiangnan Shipyard. Feng said that traditional cultural attractions can feel repetitive, but industrial tourism is fresh and distinctive, during which visitors can find out about history.
A 30 -year -old finance professional, surnamed Do, has been exploring BMW and Volvo factories, as well as robotics projects.
She noted that seeing real manufacturing up close and trying simple operations made it truly memorable.
Beyond its niche appeal, Dew finds industrial tourism's core value in its futuristic edge.
Dew said that industrial spaces are grand and the installations solutions and futuristic elements stand out, especially in robot or smart manufacturing zones, adding that visitors would get a powerful sense of cutting -edge technology.
She expressed hopes that more high -tech tours and interactive experiences will be rolled out nationwide.
You're listening to Special English.
Shanghai Disney Resort has broken ground on a new spiderman themed land, a major expansion that represents a rising global investment interest in China's theme park sector.
According According to the company, the new land, located adjacent to Zootopia, will include the park's first major Marvel -themed attraction, a high -energy thrill coaster ride featuring Spider -Man, one of the most popular Marvel superheroes.
goes. Shanghai Disney Resort welcomes over 14 million visitors annually.
The new themed land will be the ninth at Shanghai Disneyland and the third major expansion of the park since opening in 2016.
China's theme park sector is becoming a key field for global investment driven by its huge population, rising disposable incomes, and the integration of culture and tourism.
time. Following the success of Shanghai Disney Resort and Universal Beijing Resort, more global brands are seeking to build amusement parks in Shanghai to cash in on the increasing demand in China, particularly from young people and families for joyful and immersive travel experiences.
LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort, the largest LEGOLAND in the world, will officially open on July 5th.
Warner Brothers has partnered with Xinjiang International Holdings, China's major travel and hospitality conglomerate, to build a Making of Harry Potter studio tour at Shanghai Xinjiang Action Park.
The Chinese government pledged in the 2025 Government Work Report to accelerate landmark investment projects and step up efforts to foster new forms of cultural business and vigorously develop the tourism industry.
This is Special English.
Southwest China's Sichuan province has joined other cities and provinces in an effort to make the region a national leader in brain -computer interface and human -machine interaction technologies.
The Sichuan government recently released an action plan outlining ambitious targets for the province to achieve before 2030, including conducting 3 ,000 invasive brain -computer interface surgical operations every year assisting more than 100 ,000 patients with neurodegenerative mental health or digital addiction issues and applying brain computer interface -based rehabilitation devices for more than 20 ,000 users annually.
The action plan was jointly released by eight government departments, including the Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology.
According to Chengdu Jasmin's Biotech, a Sichuan -based biotech company dedicated to developing clinical applications for neurodegenerative diseases.
The policy is expected to boost innovation, strengthen industry collaboration, and expand application scenarios, opening up greater opportunities for business growth.
Sichuan's plan is part of a broader national push.
Since the beginning of this year, local governments across China have rolled out a series of favorable policies to support the development of the brain -computer the interface industry.
In January, Beijing released an action plan focused on expanding funding channels and encouraging early -stage investment to accelerate the sector's growth.
Shanghai followed with its own initiative, aiming to tackle key scientific challenges in brain -computer interface technology and promote product innovation through improved integration of resources.
According to Chian Jain Industry Research Institute, the global brain -computer interface market was worth US $1 .98 billion in 2023 and is expected to surpass US $6 billion by 2028.
The institute predicts that China's brain -computer interface market will surpass 120 billion yuan around 16 billion US dollars by 2040 with a compound annual growth rate of about 26 percent.
You're listening to Special English.
China's central bank announced that it has set up a re -lending facility for service consumption and elderly care, aiming to guide financial institutions in strengthening support for these sectors.
According to the People's Bank of China, the re -lending facility quota for service consumption and elderly care is 500 billion yuan, some US $69 billion, featuring an annual interest rate of 1 .5 % and a term of one year.
Eligible applicants for the facility include 21 national financial institutions, such as policy banks, and state -owned commercial banks, as well as five city commercial banks, including Bank of Beijing and Bank of Shanghai.
The central bank noted that this re -lending facility will be in effect until the end of that it will encourage and guide financial institutions to beef up support for key areas in the service consumption sector, including accommodation and catering, culture, sports and entertainment and education as well as the elderly care industry.
This is special English.
Chinese researchers have created a high precision terrain data set with millimeter to decimeter spatial resolution around the landing site of China's Chang 'e -6 lunar probe.
Based on this data set, the researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences determined the accurate location of the landing site of Chang 'e 6 and conducted a micro -scale geological analysis.
The result findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Through comparison, the researchers found that the geological features of the region such as surface roughness, the ratio of crater The depth to diameter, the thickness of lunar regolith and the number of rocks all fall between those of the landing sites of Chang 'e 4 and Chang 'e 5, indicating that the surface exposure time of the region is also roughly intermediate between the two.
Through detailed topographic analysis, they have revealed that the Chang 'e 6 landing area was primarily covered by local marae materials, which were excavated from a nearby unnamed crater with a diameter of around 51 metres and accounted for 30 -35 % in volume.
The Chang 'e 6 lunar probe returned to earth in June last year with 1 ,935 .3 grams of lunar samples collected from the previously unexplored far side of the Moon.
You're listening to Special English.
The number of registered users on Smart Education of China, an online platform for public services concerning digital education topped 164 million as of April 2025.
During the period this platform had recorded over 61 .3 billion page views and boasted visitors from more than 220 countries and regions.
That is according to the white paper issued at the 2025 World Digital Education Conference which was recently held in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province.
The white paper shows that the platform has continued to gather high -quality digital educational resources including over a hundred and ten thousand primary and secondary school resources, as well as over 11 ,300 online courses for vocational education, 31 ,000 for higher education, and over 2 ,000 for lifelong learning.
The platform integrates 51 services, such as employment and examination services and features deep integration of AI and education.
China is building a modern digital education system that is fairer, of higher quality, more intelligent and accessible to all for lifelong learning.
Smart Education of China was launched in March 2022 and focuses on areas including learning, teaching, school governance, and educational innovation, and has become one of the world's largest repositories of education and teaching resources.
This is Special English.
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.
Shanghai Disney Resort has broken ground on a new Spiderman themed land a major expansion that represents a rising global investment interest in China's theme park sector.
According to the company the new land located adjacent to Zootopia will include the park's first major Marvel themed attraction, a high energy thrill coaster ride featuring Spider -Man, one of the most popular marvel superheroes.
Shanghai Disney resort welcomes over 14 million visitors annually.
The new themed land will be the ninth at Shanghai Disneyland and the third major expansion of the Park since opening in 2016.
China's theme park sector is becoming a key field for global investment driven by its huge population rising disposable incomes and the integration of culture and tourism.
Following the success of Shanghai Disney Resort and Universal Beijing Resort, more global brands are seeking to build amusement parks in Shanghai to cash in on the increasing demand in China, particularly from young people and families, for joyful and immersive travel experiences.
Legoland Shanghai Resort, the largest legoland in the world, will officially open on July 5.
Warner Bros. has partnered with Jinjiang International Holdings, China's major travel and hospitality conglomerate, to build a Making of Harry Potter studio tour at Shanghai Jinjiang Action Park.
The Chinese government pledged in the 2025 government work report to accelerate landmark investment projects and step up efforts to foster new forms of cultural business and vigorously develop the tourism industry.
You're listening to Special English.
South -west China's Sichuan province has joined other cities and provinces in an effort to make the region a national leader in brain computer interface and human machine interaction technologies.
The Sichuan government recently released an action plan outlining ambitious targets for the province to achieve before 2030, including conducting 3 ,000 invasive brain -computer -interface surgical operations every year, assisting more than 100 ,000 patients with neurodegenerative mental health or digital addiction issues, and applying brain -computer -interface -based rehabilitation devices for more than 20 ,000 users annually.
The action plan was jointly released by 8 government departments, including the Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology.
According to Chengdu Jasmin's Biotech, a Sichuan -based biotech company dedicated to developing clinical applications for neurodegenerative diseases, the policy is expected to boost innovation, strengthen industry collaboration and expand application scenarios opening up greater opportunities for business growth.
Sichuan's plan is part of a broader national push since the beginning of this year local governments across China have rolled out a series of favorable policies to support the development of the brain computer interface industry.
In January, Beijing released an action plan focused on expanding funding channels and encouraging early -stage investment to accelerate the sector's growth.
Shanghai followed with its own initiative, aiming to tackle key scientific challenges in brain -computer interface technology and promote product innovation through improved integration of resources.
According to Chen Jian Industry Research Institute the global brain computer interface market was worth 1 .98 billion US dollars in 2023 and is expected to surpass 6 billion dollars by 2028.
The Institute predicts that China's brain computer interface market will surpass a hundred and twenty billion yuan around 16 billion US dollars by 2040, with a compound annual growth rate of about 26 percent.
That is the end of today's program.
I hope you will join us every day to learn English at a slower pace.
