NEW PRESIDENT OF JD.COM

NEW PRESIDENT OF JD.COM

Xu Lei， previously CEO of JD Retail， will take up the role of president of JD.com as the companys founder Richard Liu will stay on as chairman and CEO， but is stepping back from day-to-day operations.

Xu joined the company in 2009. In the past three years， while acting as retail head of the company， Xu has led JD.coms retail business to achieve high-quality growth. In the second quarter of 2021， JD Retail accounted for 90 percent of JD.coms net revenue of 253.8 billion yuan （$39.3 billion）， according to company statistics.

In his new role， Xu is expected to take over the companys day-to-day workings and lead the collaborative development of the various business units of JD.com. These changes will allow Liu to switch his focus to formulating the Chinese e-commerce giants long-term strategy.

Student Loan Aid

Guangming Daily September 6

A State Council executive meeting on September 1 decided to improve loan aid for students from families in financial difficulty.

Since the onset of this fall semester， the government has raised the annual maximum amount to 12，000 yuan （$1，857） for an undergraduate and a junior college student from 8，000 yuan （$1，238）. That of a postgraduate increases to 16，000 yuan （$2，476） from a previous 12，000 yuan. The loan interests accumulated during their studies will be subsidized by national finance.

Generally， students from schools included in the Double First Class Universities initiative， which will participate in the countrys construction plan of world-class universities and first-class disciplines， can obtain more access to the aid. Others， especially those private ones charging higher tuition fees， will receive less financial allocation from the government. The policy ensures that students from poorer families will get more support， which pushing forward more equality in the field of higher education.

In addition， the meeting also asked schools to increase efforts to provide more part-time jobs for students， thus creating more channels to relieve their financial burden.

A Positive Change

Lifeweek August 30

After capital enters the film and TV series industry， the amount of Internet traffic generated becomes the index to evaluate any work. To up viewer numbers， investors， including video platforms， always ask for the participation of stars with huge fan bases.