Race on Water

Boats gather for a competition， a national intangible cultural heritage event， in Xinghua， east Chinas Jiangsu Province， on April 4.

Smog Inspection

The Ministry of Environmental Protection （MEP） has sent inspection teams to seven cities in the north as China copes with a new round of severe smog. The cities are Beijing， Tianjin， Shijiazhuang， Tangshan， Baoding， Xingtai and Anyang.

The inspectors discovered factories fabricating pollutant data in Anyang and Xingtai. A steel mill in Tangshan was found to have shut down a pollutant detector. Those responsible have been detained by local police， MEP said in a statement on April 4.

In Tianjin， smog emergency plans have been poorly implemented. Several cement producers in Tangshan were found to have continued operations when they should have been suspended.

In Shijiazhuang and Beijing， a ceramics producer and a paper maker cheated inspectors regarding the use of purifying equipment. In Xingtai， a furniture plant refused to allow inspectors.

Tianjin， Tangshan， Langfang， Puyang and Anyang had issued an orange alert， the second highest alarm in the four-tier warning system.

China has been under growing pressure to address air pollution as smog frequently smothers its cities.

Tourism Boom

Chinas tourism industry raked in 39 billion yuan （$5.74 billion） during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday， offi cial data showed on April 4.

The revenue was driven by 93 million domestic tourist trips， the National Tourism Administration said in a statement.

The Qingming Festival， also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day， is an important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. Many also spend the holiday on leisure travel.

Most of the tourists hit the road for short-haul trips. About 35 million passengers took the train， mostly heading for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the Yangtze River Delta region.

The tourism industry is important to Chinas shift toward a more service-driven economy and is a useful indicator of the strength of consumer spending.

Purchase Curbs

Authorities in Beijing expanded the housing purchase limit on April 3 to cover single-story houses in a bid to cool down the property market.

Now the purchase restriction covers all commercial houses， Zhao Xiuchi， a professor at the Capital University of Economic and Business， said.

As of April 4， single adults with a Beijing hukou， or residence permit， and married people without a Beijing hukou， are temporarily banned from buying a single-story house if they already own at least one apartment in Beijing， the Municipal Commission of Housing and UrbanRural Development said.

Local families that already own two homes or more and non-locals who have no record of paying social insurance or income tax for fi ve years are also banned from buying single-story houses.

These houses are mainly in the downtown districts， thus sparking speculation and fast rise in housing prices， Zhao said.

In the past month， authorities in Beijing introduced a spate of measures， including a higher down payment， higher mortgage rates and tougher purchase restrictions to cool the red-hot property market.

Intelligent Driving

Big data can help improve traffi c safety and facilitate intelligent driving research and development as well as application， according to a senior manager with Didi Chuxing， the Chinese Uber.

Didi collects data on the driving behavior of its pool of drivers to improve safety and service quality. This can also help improve the development of intelligent driving cars by monitoring and learning how human drivers deal with emergency situations， Zhang Wensong， Senior Vice President with Didi， said at a forum on March 29.

Zhang pointed out that the development of the intelligent driving car is still at an early stage. But now people can use related technologies to improve driving safety， since the majority of road accidents are caused by human error.

In March， Didi launched the worlds f rist open-source self-driving competition with online computer science university Udacity， inviting teams to create an automated safety and awareness processing stack， a core feature of self-driving cars， to improve general safety metrics for human and self-driving scenarios based on real data.

Traffi c data in China is a complex pool， and data analysis of 20 million trips on Didi per day will help use intelligent driving cars more effi ciently and reduce costs for drivers， Zhang said.

“Didi is actually a big data and artifi cial intelligence （AI） company. Data is the resource and AI the tool to activate data power，” Zhang said.

Didi has signed strategic agreements with 11 Chinese cities to improve traffi c management systems with data-driven analysis and forecasting capabilities.

Foreign Talent Plan

An industry association in Beijings hi-tech heartland Zhongguancun has launched a project to create more job opportunities for international students studying in China.

“Cirrus Project”-Job Search（CPJS）， launched by the Zhongguancun Belt and Road Industry Promotion Association（ZBRA）， aims to attract foreign talent by offering internships and training with enterprises at Zhongguancun， ZBRA Director Zhang Xiaodong said.

The association was founded by hi-tech fi rms， research institutions and entrepreneurs in the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park. It aims for international cooperation among the companies in the park.

Under the CPJS， foreign students can seek internship opportunities with companies at Zhongguancun through university outreach programs. Students with a good internship report will be rewarded， Zhang said.

The CPJS has established contact with Chinese universities such as the University of International Business and Economics， Beijing Institute of Technology and Renmin University of China.

“This is my fi rst time at such a program，” Jeun Yeong， a South Korean student studying Japanese in Renmin University of China， said. He attended a CPJS job affair in his university on March 31.

“I will graduate in a year， and I hope my Chinese， Japanese and Korean language skills can help me fi nd a good job here，” Jeun said.

There are more than 7，000 hi-tech companies in the Zhongguancun park， Huang Ying， Deputy Director of the park， said. Many are in urgent need of international talent for their overseas expansion.

The CPJS aims to reach more than 10，000 international students in fi ve years and help more than 1，000 students establish close contact with local companies.

In January， China dropped the work experience requirement for foreign postgraduates. Now foreign students with a postgraduate degree or higher from Chinese universities can be employed within a year after graduation.

E-Chip Passports

China has issued more than 98 mil- lion e-chip passports， the Ministry of Public Security said on April 1.

Since these passports were launched in March 2012， a total of 6.6 million were issued that year alone and the annual average rate of issuing the new passports grew by 20 percent.

The ministry estimates it will have issued over 100 million e-chip passports by the end of April.

Smart cards have replaced the paper permits issued to Hong Kong and Macao residents commuting between the Chinese mainland and the two regions.

The ministry has simplifi ed procedures and delegated power to local administrations for the convenience of people who apply for e-chip passports.

In 2016， 79 million residents from the Chinese mainland held e-chip passports for exit or entry.

Floral Diplomacy

Satomi Someya， Cherry Blossom Princess of the Japan Cherry Blossom Association， gives an interview at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Wuxi International Cherry Blossom Week on Turtle Head Isle in Wuxi， east Chinas Jiangsu Province， on March 28.

Turtle Head Isle has more than 30，000 cherry trees， around half of which were given by Japanese citizens and NGOs.

Healing Art

An exhibition of paintings by people with autism in Beijing on April 2， World Autism Awareness Day. The exhibition began visiting 100 cities worldwide from April 2， displaying 5，000 works of art created by children with autism. The tour will end on May 21.

PMI Data

Chinas manufacturing sector in March stayed above the boombust line for the eighth month in a row， providing fresh evidence of a stabilizing economy， said the National Bureau of Statistics （NBS）.

The manufacturing purchasing managers index （PMI） came in at 51.8 in March， higher than 51.6 recorded in February， according to NBS data released on March 31.

The reading beat market expectations and was the highest in nearly fi ve years. In April 2012， it had reached 53.3.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion， while below 50 refl ects contraction.

This also marked the second consecutive month that the expansion rate of the index has accelerated.

Major sub-indexes posted upticks， pointing to strengthened momentum of the manufacturing sector， said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

“Hi-tech manufacturing continued its rapid expansion， and some traditional manufacturing industriesproduction and management conditions continue to be on the mend，”Zhao said.

The sub-index for hi-tech manufacturing industry topped 54.2 in March， well above 51.8 registered for all manufacturing industries.

Chinas non-manufacturing sector continued to expand in March， nearing a three-year record high.

The non-manufacturing PMI came in at 55.1 in March， up from 54.2 in February， staying above the boom-bust line of 50 for the sixth straight month， according to NBS.

Commercial activities in the service sector grew steadily to 54.2 in March， while the index for new orders rose for the second consecutive month in March， indicating growing market demand.

Retail， airline transport， courier services， Internet and software information technology， fi nance and insurance were among the fastest growing service sectors， while road transport， catering and property reported contractions.

More FTZs

Seven new free trade zones （FTZs） opened on April 1 in China， bringing the total to 11 as the country aims to boost trade and crossborder investment.

The State Council， Chinas cabinet， approved the establishment of seven new FTZs in the provinces of Liaoning， Zhejiang， Henan， Hubei， Sichuan and Shaanxi as well as Chongqing Municipality， according to an offi cial statement released on March 31.

The decision carries strategic importance in terms of opening up and reform， cutting bureaucratic red tape and exploring fi nancial innovation， the statement said.

The expansion came nearly four years after the launch of Chinas fi rst FTZ in Shanghai to test a broad range of economic reforms， including more openness to foreign investment and fewer restrictions on capital fl ows.

Green Harvests

Farmers pick tea leaves at a tea garden in Haoping Village， Wenxian County， northwest Chinas Gansu Province， on March 31. Tea farmers across China harvested tea leaves ahead of the Qingming Festival on April 4 to produce Mingqian （literally “pre-Qingming”） tea， which is made of the very fi rst tea leaf sprouts of spring and is considered to be of high quality.

Top Finance Hubs

Shanghai and Beijing were included among the top 20 fi nancial hubs in the world by an index tracking 88 fi nancial centers globally.

Shanghai and Beijing ranked respectively as the 13th and 16th top fi nancial hubs in the world， according to a Global Financial Centers Index report released on March 27.

The report is released by British think tank Z/Yen Group every six months， ranking cities business environment， fi nance system， infrastructure and human resources.

The index rated New York， London and Singapore as the top three fi nancial hubs.

The Chinese cities of Shenzhen， Guangzhou， Qingdao and Dalian were also among the 88 hubs listed in the index.

Chinas fi nancial hubs will have“great expectations and huge opportunities” in the future， the report said.

More Fund Support

Chinese authorities on March 28 promised “multi-pronged fi nancial support” for the manufacturing sector as the government looks to shift the country from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

In a guideline jointly released by several regulators including the central bank and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， China pledged it would improve its support of the Made in China 2025 strategy.

More fi nancial support should be given to technology and manufacturing sector upgrades， the guideline said， underscoring the key fi elds and tasks in the Made in China 2025 blueprint.

China will allow banks and institutions to play differentiated roles in serving the manufacturing sector， and agencies will be set up to offer more professional services to the industry.

The regulators also pledged to foster a multi-layered capital market and speed up the listing of hi-tech manufacturing fi rms.

Innovative bond and insurance products will cater to the fi nancing needs of the advanced manufacturing industry， the guideline specifi ed.

Although Chinas manufacturing sector is often labeled labor-intensive and outdated， the government is pursuing advanced technology and growth through innovation.

In 2015， China announced its Made in China 2025 plan would elevate the manufacturing sector up the value chain， and promote development in 10 key sectors such as medical devices and robotics.

New BYD Factory

Chinese vehicle manufacturer BYD opened its fi rst European electric bus factory in the northern Hungarian city of Komarom on April 4.

BYD is expected to invest 20 million euros （$21.3 million） in the project up to 2018.

Currently， there are 32 employees， but the company plans to employ around 300 people to assemble up to 400 electric buses a year， which will be exported across Europe.

After electric buses and coaches， the company will make electric forklift trucks and light commercial vehicles.

Isbrand Ho， Managing Director at BYD Europe， said that his fi rm chose Hungary because of its location and long tradition of engineering excellence.

“We are very conscious of the countrys strong heritage of bus making in this immediate region，”he said.

“They （BYD） have chosen Komarom and Hungary among many competitors from not only Europe， but also many parts of the world，” Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said at the opening ceremony.

Szijjarto underlined that the Hungarian Government is taking every measure possible to turn the country into a target for not only production companies， but also those that want to make Hungary the location of their research and development centers.

Hungary has the lowest corporate tax in the European Union， Szijjarto said.

Duan Jielong， Chinese Ambassador to Hungary， hoped that the BYD investment project would achieve mutual benef tis and common development， and promote bilateral cooperation.

Chinas investment in Hungary has reached $4.1 billion in the chemical， f niancing， communications， logistics and automotive industries， Duan added.

Striding Into an AI Era

Robin Li （left）， Chairman and CEO of Chinas Internet giant Baidu， speaks on artifi cial intelligence （AI） at the China （Shenzhen） IT Summit on April 2.

In Plane View

An aircraft waits to take off on the middle runway of Beijing Capital International Airport on March 31.

The runway will remain shut for overhaul till April 29.

Auditing Intensified

Chinas central authorities made public a plan on March 31 to step up auditing of overseas investment by state-owned enterprises （SOEs） and strengthen supervision of stateowned capital.

The plan， jointly issued by the General Offi ce of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Offi ce of the State Council， is aimed at boosting the vitality， competitiveness and riskresistance of state-owned businesses.

The country will enhance supervision of state assets through strict audits of SOEs， their overseas investment and state-owned capital as well as performance assessment of state company managers， according to the plan.

China will also promote progress in SOE reforms， protect the safety of state assets and enhance capital returns， it said.

As of the end of 2016， total assets of Chinas SOEs hit 131.72 trillion yuan （$19.1 trillion）， according to statistics from the Ministry of Finance.