Express

April 16， 2022： Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping waves as she returns from the Shenzhou XIII mission.

At 9：57 a.m. that day， the reentry module carrying astronauts Zhai Zhigang， Wang Yaping， and Ye Guangfu touched down safely at the designated Dongfeng Landing Site in northern Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， marking the three Shenzhou XIII astronauts completing their six-month space mission. The mission was the longest so far， and Wang was the first Chinese female astronaut to conduct a spacewalk.

The return marked China completing verification of key technologies of its space station， declared the China Manned Space Agency. by Ge Lixin and He Gaobing

April 23， 2022： A girl enjoys reading in a library in Jinan City， Shandong Province.

April 23 marks World Book and Copyright Day. According to a national survey on reading released that day， Chinese adults and children read more books， both paper and digital， in 2021 than in 2020.

Per capita reading volume of paper books was 4.76， and 3.3 for digital books in 2021. As many as 45.6 percent of surveyed adults said they preferred to read paper books. Over 77 percent of surveyed adults were accustomed to reading books on mobile phones last year， and more than 30 percent had a habit of listening to audiobooks. On average， Chinese adults spent 21 minutes reading every day in 2021， one minute more than the figure for 2020， the survey showed. CNS

April 21， 2022： An aerial panoramic photo shows the Dala Photovoltaic Power Base in northern Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The base， composed of nearly 200，000 photovoltaic panels in the shape of a running horse， promotes ecological management while utilizing rich solar energy resources in the Kubuqi Desert.

Chinas installed capacity of renewable energy logged rapid growth in the first quarter of this year as part of the countrys efforts to pursue carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. In the first three months of 2022， the countrys capacity of wind power jumped 17.4 percent year on year to 340 million kilowatts while solar farms saw capacity reach 320 million kilowatts， with an increase of 22.9 percent， according to the National Energy Administration. Xinhua

April 19， 2022： Rescuers help a stranded whale in Xiangshan County of Ningbo， eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province.3E2CBCE2-9983-45AE-B65C-CD737714D60F

The whale was stranded on the coast of Xiangshan County that morning. Local fishery administration and fire control staff immediately carried out a rescue operation. Rescuers sprinkled water on its 20-meterlong body and dug a trench of seawater around the stranded whale to ensure that it stayed covered with water and that its blowhole was not obstructed.

After a 20-hour rescue operation， the whale， which weighed dozens of tons， was connected by ropes to several boats and gently pulled back into the sea at high tide. Xinhua

April 6， 2022： Students take part in a Chinese cultural event at the Confucius Classroom in St. Marys Primary School， the UK.

Chinas Center for Language Education and Cooperation （CLEC） and Chinese Plus launched the International Chinese Language Day themed “Together for a Bright Future.” More than 300 embassies and consulates， Chinese educational institutions， and enterprises from over 100 countries held a variety of activities to promote the Chinese language and Chinese culture around the world.

As one of the fastest-growing languages， Chinese is by far the most spoken language across the world. Among the six official languages of the United Nations， it is the only official language used by a single country. courtesy of St. Marys Primary School

April 17， 2022： People visit the Botanical Garden in Beijing， capital of China.

The China National Botanical Garden officially opened in Beijing on April 18， according to an announcement from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration （NFGA）. With a planned area of 600 hectares， the National Botanical Garden built on the work of the Institute of Botany under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Botanical Garden. It features more than 30，000 kinds of plants and some 5 million representative plant specimens from five continents.

The garden is a national plant diversity protection base and an important symbol of the countrys sustainable development capabilities， the NFGA said. IC3E2CBCE2-9983-45AE-B65C-CD737714D60F