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Here's the news. East China's metropolis, Shanghai, saw record -breaking tourism revenue of 576 .1 billion yuan, about 80 .3 billion U .S. dollars, in 2024.
According to the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, among total revenue, domestic tourism revenue achieved approximately 497 .3 billion yuan, while that of inbound tourism hit nearly 11 .1 billion U .S. dollars, both hitting a historical high.
Last year, Shanghai received 390 million domestic tourist visits and over 6 .7 million inbound tourist visits.
The city recently launched a three -year plan to promote the high -quality development of the tourism industry aimed at becoming a world -renowned tourism city.
Following the success of Shanghai Disney Resort, Legoland Shanghai Resort is preparing for its summer opening while U .S. entertainment company Warner Brothers is set to launch a Making of Harry Potter studio tour in Shanghai in 2027.
The city is leveraging its cruise tourism potential by developing diverse travel products, aiming to establish itself as the premier destination for inbound cruise tourism in China.
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China's Hong Kong Special The General Administrative Region Government has announced a list of the first batch of low -altitude economy regulatory sandbox pilot projects, aiming to inject vitality into Hong Kong's economy through the gradual implementation of these projects.
According to John Lee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the low -altitude economy is set to strengthen city management and business efficiency, and create a whole new experience of smart living for the public, making it an important growth engine for the economy.
Lee said that the government will unleash the potential of the low -altitude economy by bringing together research and development outcomes and corporate efforts, pushing forward the low altitude economy in a safe and healthy manner to make Hong Kong a pioneer in the emerging new -quality productive forces industry, creating a new era of a smart sky.
The Hong Kong SAR government received proposals from 72 applicants, 38 of which are among the first batch of pilot projects to be rolled out.
The projects cover a wide range of fields and application scenarios, including emergency and rescue, logistics and distribution, safety maintenance, and low -altitude infrastructure.
Some of the projects will start trial operation in April, and the first phase of the trial period is six months.
Lee proposed in the 2024 policy address to establish the Working Group on Developing Low Altitude Economy, which will formulate development strategies and interdepartmental action plans and draw up regulations and design the institutional setup.
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The TD 550 D co -axial unmanned helicopter system has received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the first of its kind to have obtained such certification in China.
According to Tian Gangying, CEO of the helicopters developer United Aircraft, its certification fills a gap in China's airworthiness certification for unmanned helicopter systems. setting a reference standard for future unmanned helicopter certifications.
The model boasts high payload capacity, long endurance, and strong high -altitude performance, making it well suited for complex environments such as plateaus and islands.
The helicopter has a maximum take -off weight of 640 kilograms at sea level and 550 kilograms at an altitude of 5000 meters.
Its maximum payload capacity reaches 200 kilograms at sea level and 120 kilograms at 5 ,000 meters, demonstrating its versatility in high altitude operations.
The aircraft, designed for applications in emergency rescue, firefighting, and smart logistics, features emergency return, automatic landing, and forced landing capabilities in critical situations.
The certification comes as the drone industry in China is entering a stage of rapid growth, according to Yang Jinsai, chairman of Shenzhen Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry Association.
The number of drone operating companies nationwide has surpassed 20 ,000 with an annual output value reaching approximately 210 billion yuan, about 29 .3 billion U .S. dollars, reflecting a 39 .5 % increase over the previous year.
As a major hub for the industry, Shenzhen is home to nearly 2 ,000 drone companies, contributing 107 billion yuan in output value for 2024, representing a 12 percent growth rate.
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In a bid to tackle the chronic labor shortages plaguing its natural rubber industry, China has unveiled a mobile rubber -tapping robot, marking a leap forward in agricultural automation.
developed jointly by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and Beijing -based tech firm Automotive Walking Technology.
The self -navigating robot is set to undergo trials in rubber plantations in south China's Hainan province.
during the tapping season this month.
In a demonstration video, the robot can be seen approaching a rubber tree before halting with pinpoint accuracy and then extending its robotic arm to execute a precise cutting motion on the trunk.
Within seconds after this cutting motion, the video reveals milky white latex flowing steadily from the incision made by the robot China's natural rubber sector, vital for tire manufacturing and as a source of industrial supplies is currently facing a significant workforce deficit.
Cao Jianhua, deputy director of the academy's Rubber Research Institute, said that the rubber -tapping robots have been developed to address the exodus of rubber -tappers, which is the industry's pain point.
The robot, equipped with a multi -degree -of -freedom robotic arm and caterpillar track mobility, leverages AI -driven technologies to adapt to complex terrain and perform precision cuts.
Also, visual tech determines tree bark depth and cutting angles, achieving 80 % manual harvesting efficiency with matching latex quality.
The rubber -tapping robot can harvest 100 to 120 trees per hour, powered by lithium batteries that provide over 8 hours of continuous operation.
Sun Yao, co -founder of Automotive walking technology noted that once in the mass production phase, the cost of the rubber -tapping robot will drop below 100 ,000 yuan, some And for a 3 .3 hectare rubber garden robot -based tapping will recoup the purchase cost within about 18 months.
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An exhibition featuring over 240 Silk Road artifacts has opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
The exhibition entitled Ink Splendor and Cultural Context Gansu Silk Road Art Treasures exhibition brings together painted pottery, bamboo slips, silk manuscripts, as well as inscribed bricks, sculptures and mural reproductions.
Among the highlights is a wooden map unearthed in Tianxue, in northwest China's Gansu province, which dates back to the Warring States period over 2 ,200 years ago.
Wu Weishan, the curator of the National Art Museum said that the exhibition is part of a series launched by the museum to showcase the artistic ideal of the Chinese nation and the distinctive characteristics of Chinese civilization.
The exhibition runs till August 17th.
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Have you ever asked your parents about how they celebrated your first birthday?
Was there a grand birthday party?
Did they take you to the zoo or garden?
Or did you have a sweet family meal at home?
The first birthday of a baby is always so precious.
It's a special and memorable celebration for the beloved little angel.
Besides traditional ceremonies with a birthday cake and the happy birthday song.
Let me tell you about one interesting Chinese tradition when celebrating a baby's first birthday.
In China, when a baby turns one year old, a must have family celebration is to put the little baby in front of different symbolic objects objects, that were carefully selected, and let the baby choose any one thing from them.
Parents should not help or guide the baby during the process.
Each object symbolizes something.
And it's often believed that the first thing the baby reaches for indicates the baby's future profession, fortune, or personality.
This tradition is called zhua zhou in Chinese.
The character zhua means to grab or pick up, while zhou refers to anniversary or a full year of life.
To understand the word zuo zhou in a simple way, it literally means to grab or pick up something for the one -year anniversary.
What is usually offered to the baby?
One common choice includes books—ink or paper.
The baby would be assumed to be studious or be endowed with academic or literary talents.
Also, the abacus is a popular choice, signifying that the baby would be good at dealing with numbers and finance.
Toys sometimes appear as an option, too, and if the baby reaches for toys, people say he or she would know everything about enjoying a good life in the future.
Basically, anything the baby grabs, it would be cheerful and prophetic in a positive way.
Other objects that are usually placed in front of the birthday baby for Joao Jo include coins, cooking utensils, jewels, sewing needles, etc. The list varies from family to family.
If you asked whether parents would really take the baby's seemingly random choice seriously and believe that it would tell their child's future career, I would say no, for now.
But if I lived thousands of years ago when this custom first prevailed, It seemed that people did believe Jo Jo had some telling power.
There are several versions of legendary stories about the earliest appearance of the tradition.
A rather popular one is that Zwa Zhou can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms, which was 220 to 280, a period when China was dominated by three warring states.
One of the states was Wu.
Legend has it that Sun Quan, the king of Wu, had adopted Dua Zhou as a method to select a successor after his first crown prince died of an illness.
It's said that he had a test for his grandsons by placing books and a piece of ribbon that was symbolic of royal identity together with ivory and jewels in front of them, and let them choose.
One grandson named Sun -Hao picked up the book with one hand and ribbon with the other.
Sun Quan believed that Sun Hao would have good prospects as a king in the future.
So he conferred the father of Sun Hao as the royal prince.
It's recorded that after some 300 years during the Tang and the Song dynasties, Joao became popular across the entire country.
The tradition has survived to this day.
Certainly, now we know that you can't decide a person's future career or fate by something he or she grabs at one year of age.
But, why do Chinese people still do it in modern days?
I guess it's not the prediction of the child's future profession that matters to parents.
Rather, zhua zhou is now simply a memorable and fun celebration at the child's one -year birthday as well as a ceremony that conveys parents best wishes for a bright and happy life for their child, no matter what he or she takes up in the future.
You're listening to Special English.
That's 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.
East China's metropolis Shanghai saw record -breaking tourism revenue of 576 .1 billion yuan, about 80 .3 billion US dollars, in 2024.
According to the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, among total revenue, domestic Urban tourism revenue achieved approximately 497 .3 billion yuan, while that of inbound tourism hit nearly 11 .1 billion US dollars, both hitting a historic high.
Last year, Shanghai received 390 million domestic tourist visits and over 6 .7 million inbound tourist visits.
The city recently launched a three -year plan to promote the high quality development of tourism industry aimed at becoming a world -renowned tourist city.
Following the success of Shanghai Disney Resort, Legoland Shanghai Resort is preparing for its summer opening while U .S. entertainment company Warner Brothers is set to launch a Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in Shanghai in 2027.
The city is leveraging its cruise tourism potential by developing diverse travel products aiming to establish itself as the premier destination for inbound cruise tourism in This is Special English.
An exhibition featuring over 240 Silk Road artifacts has opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
The exhibition entitled Ink Splendor and Cultural Context, Gansu Silk Road Art Treasures Exhibition, brings together painted pottery, bamboo slips, silk manuscripts, as well as inscribed bricks, sculptures, and mural reproductions.
Among the highlights is a wooden map unearthed in Tianxue in northwest China's Gansu province, which dates back to the Warring States period over 2 ,200 years ago.
Wu Weishan, the curator of the National Art Museum, said that the exhibition is part of a series launched by the museum to showcase the artistic ideal of the Chinese nation and the exhibition runs till August 17th.
This is the end of today's program.
I hope you'll join us every day to learn English at a slower pace.
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