CHINESE SKATER BAGS GOLD IN SWITZERLAND

CHINESE SKATER BAGS GOLD IN SWITZERLAND

Speed skater Yang Binyu won the womens mass start race at the Third Winter Youth Olympic Games in St. Moritz， Switzerland on January 16. It was Chinas fi rst gold at the event.

The Chinese speed skating team bagged one gold， a silver and two bronzes.

Yang fi nished 13th in the mixed team sprint on the natural ice rink of Lake St. Moritz on January 15. The other teammates in this event were Carla Alvarez Fernandez from Spain， Filip Hawrylak from Poland and Nuraly Akzhol from Kazakhstan. The mixed team sprint， initiated at the edition in 2016， is regarded as a platform for young athletes from different countries and regions to bond as friends.

Yang is from Heilongjiang Province in northeast China. The 17-year-old impressed the media with her excellent English. She also served as the occasional interpreter for other Chinese sprinters.

Improved Online Ticketing System

Changjiang Daily January 16

The Spring Festival travel rush is dubbed as the largest annual human migration on the Earth. Every year during this period， Chinas railways have to transport more than 300 million passengers. And the transportation needs to be run smoothly， without any crashes or jams.

Its not only a livelihood issue， but also a big technological challenge. Among the many complaints often received during this travel period， diffi culties in buying a ticket was the most prominent for decades. Technological advancement， however， has made the experience much less painful this year， with the upgrade of the online ticketing system.

Using improved algorithm， cloud comput- ing， big data and artifi cial intelligence， the 12306 online ticketing system has evolved into the largest ticketing system in the world.

At peak booking times， more than 15 million train tickets are purchased through this system， with more than 150 billion site visits per day. Its no exaggeration to say that this ticketing system is approaching technological limits， with no experience from other countries available as reference.

The transition from old or backward methods to advanced ways applied to the Spring Festival travel is actually a testimony to Chinas technology innovation and its widespread application， particularly digital technologies， in the past decade. The hardship of rushing to grab a train ticket to go home is replaced by convenient ticketing experiences. The application of technology continues to improve peoples Spring Festival travel experience and helps to solve other woes related to their daily life.

Central SOEs Praised for Social Responsibility

People.com.cn January 18

Sixty-seven of centrally administered stateowned enterprises （SOEs） have transferred shares with a value of 1.1 trillion yuan （$157 billion） to the national social insurance fund since the free transfer program was initiated in 2018， said Peng Huagang， spokesperson of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission （SASAC） of the State Council at a press conference on January 15.

The total operating revenue of centrally administered SOEs reached 30.8 trillion yuan（$4.5 trillion） with a profi t of 1.3 trillion yuan（$190 billion）， up 5.6 percent and 10.8 percent respectively from a year earlier.

The free transfer of shares highlights the signifi cance of SOEs in Chinas development and the advantages of the countrys economic system in which public ownership has a dominant position with other forms of ownership existing side by side.

SOEs have played a key role in the construction of infrastructure facilities， improvement of the public service system and upgrade of the economic system during the countrys reform and opening up.

With the fi rst step of transferring shares completed， the question now is whether the move will generate strong profits， a SASAC spokesperson said， amid reforms to raise enterprises effi ciency.

A Bigger Role for Private Enterprises

Beijing Youth Daily January 16

According to the General Administration of Customs of China， the countrys total volume of imports and exports of goods in 2019 hit 31.5 trillion yuan （$4.6 trillion）， up 3.4 percent over the previous year， with a trade surplus of 2.92 trillion yuan （$422.9 billion）， up 25.4 percent.

Private enterprises have played an important role in this impressive achievement. In 2019， imports and exports of private enterprises stood at 13.5 trillion yuan （$1.9 trillion）， up 11.4 percent and accounting for 42.7 percent of Chinas overall imports and exports， which is an increase of 3.1 percentage points over 2018.

In recent years， market saturation has squeezed businesses profits and growth space. To cope with the situation， private enterprises have started to double down on their efforts to expand into overseas markets， particularly emerging markets.

In 2019， exports from these enterprises to ASEAN countries， Latin America and Africa rose by 25.6 percent， 11.4 percent and 15.6 percent respectively. Particularly， small and mediumsized private enterprises are trying to explore overseas markets through various channels.

Favorable state policy is an important external factor encouraging private enterprises to go global. Apart from massive tax and fee reductions and import and export mechanism reforms， last year， in order to encourage exports， the government introduced the customhouse bonds insurance， making private enterprises the biggest benefi ciaries.

PEOPLES ARTISTS ANTHOLOGY OUT

A new version of Wang Mengs collected works has been published by the Peoples Literature Publishing House. The 50-volume anthology is a collection of his major works from 1948 to 2018， including novels， poems， prose and autobiography. There are also six volumes of interpretations of The Dream of the Red Chamber， one of Chinas four great classic novels. The original novel was written by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty（1644-1911）.

Born in Beijing in 1934， Wang wrote his first novel in 1953. Many of his books have been translated into multiple foreign languages. He served as Chinas culture minister from 1986 to 1989.

In 2015 he was awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize， Chinas most prestigious literary award， for Scenery on This Side， a novel on rural life in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China， where he worked from 1963 to 1978. He was also among the 42 individuals who received national honorary titles from President Xi Jinping on September 29 for their outstanding contributions. He received the title Peoples Artist.

“My videos have aroused interest among the audience as they can learn where the food came from and see how old craftsmanship is passed along [to the next generation]. Today， people have heavy workloads and prefer a more unrestrained lifestyle. They watch my videos to temporarily relieve their anxiety.”

Li Ziqi， a Chinese video blogger who has nearly 8 million subscribers on YouTube， in an interview with Xinhua News Agency on January 18

“The Palace Museum has a special and symbolic place in Chinese peoples heart. In such a unique place， the photo showing off privilege touched peoples sensitivity about fairness.”

Cao Lin， a commentator with China Youth Daily， commenting on a recent scandal in which several visitors drove a Mercedes Benz into the Palace Museum， on a WeChat account affiliated to the newspaper on January 18. The museum later apologized and promised stricter control

“What I really， really worry about is that we do not have the capacity in the healthcare or social care system to deal with this huge mental health burden. Hong Kong has a shortage of such professionals， even before the turmoil.”

Gabriel Leung， a professor with the University of Hong Kong， who co-led a study recently published in the medical journal Lancet that claimed that the months-long social turmoil in Hong Kong is taking a toll on peoples mental health， speaking on January 17

“Peoples perception about esports has changed as they think it is no longer an unproductive pastime but a competition requiring both genius and perseverance， which is a testament to Chinas progress made in this sector.”

Chen Xihan， an author with Wen Wei Po， writing on January 18