China in Pictures Page 49

Sep 28, 2023 18:48 PM

Gallery: China Readies for Travel Surge
Crowds have swelled across major railway stations ahead of the lengthier Golden Week holiday from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6. The national railway is expecting 190 million trips for the period, given the longer than usual break. This year’s holiday consists of both the Mid-Autumn festival and National Day
Sep 27, 2023 19:59 PM

Gallery: South Korea Shows Off Its Arms
South Korea held its first large military parade in a decade to mark the country’s 75th Armed Forces Day. The parade stretched for 2 kilometers and traveled a route to downtown Seoul from satellite city Seongnam, featuring thousands of troops and equipment, including the country’s Hyunmoo missiles. The display coincided with the government’s adoption of a more assertive stance toward nuclear-armed North Korea
Sep 26, 2023 16:09 PM

Gallery: Thai PM Welcomes Chinese Tourists
Hundreds of travelers from Shanghai received a warm welcome from Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on Monday — the first day of the Thai government’s new visa-free policy. The policy, effective until Feb. 29, grants a temporary visa exemption for a five-month period for both Chinese and Kazakh visitors. Thailand expects to welcome between 1.9 million and 2.8 million Chinese tourists during the period. The Southeast Asian nation is trying to revive its tourism industry, which took a hit during the pandemic
Sep 25, 2023 18:36 PM

Gallery: China’s Gold Haul
Chinese athletes had a stellar start on the opening day of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, capturing 20 gold medals in 31 events in categories including rowing, shooting, wushu, swimming and gymnastics. Rowers Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping claimed the first gold in the games. China’s shooters secured two more. Swimmers Zhang Yufei and Wang Shun made a splash, with Zhang setting a new Asiad record for the women’s 200-meter butterfly and Wang breaking the Asian record for the men’s 200-meter individual medley
Sep 22, 2023 19:29 PM

Gallery: China Readies for the Asian Games
The 19th meeting of the multi-sport event kicks off Saturday in the eastern city of Hangzhou after a one year delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 56 venues located largely in the city will host the various events, including 12 facilities built especially for the games. Authorities are expecting nearly 12,000 athletes from 45 nations and territories to compete at the event, which is scheduled to run until Oct. 8
Sep 21, 2023 20:18 PM

Gallery: Wingsuit Daredevils
Participants zipped through the skies of Tianmen Mountain in Hunan’s Zhangjiajie, performing gravity-defying competitive feats for the 2023 Wingsuit Flying World Championship. The event, which took place from Sept. 13 to Tuesday, comprised speed racing, target hitting and flying performance competitions. Vincent Descols of France topped the podium with 160 points in Monday’s target-hitting final, while China’s Zhang Shupeng, the first Chinese flier to attend the competition, secured third place
Sep 20, 2023 19:28 PM

Gallery: Hong Kong’s ‘Anchor Babies’
As the new school year begins, many children in southern Chinese cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou once again started their daily commute to Hong Kong. Among them are many ‘anchor babies’ — kids born in Hong Kong to mainland parents. This unique status allows these students attend school on either side of the border. The number of ‘anchor babies’ has declined following the implementation of a policy in 2013 that restricted mainland women from giving birth in Hong Kong
Sep 19, 2023 19:21 PM

Gallery: Fasting in Protest
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol approved a motion Tuesday to seek parliamentary consent for the arrest of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on bribery and related charges. This decision follows Lee’s hospitalization after a 19-day hunger strike, a protest against the Yoon government’s policies on the economy, press freedom and Japan’s discharge of treated radioactive wastewater into the ocean. Lee started fasting on Aug. 31, eating only salt and liquids. In August, he and other members of his party began organizing events in protest against Japan’s release of the wastewater
Sep 18, 2023 19:44 PM

Gallery: Singapore Grand Prix
World-class drivers and race car fans converged at the Marina Bay Street Circuit Sunday for a night of high-octane action and track-side entertainment during the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Spanish racer Carlos Sainz emerged champion, while Alfa Romeo’s Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu finished in 12th place. The weekend events also featured concerts, a showcase of vintage cars as well as TSS The Super Series race
Sep 15, 2023 20:00 PM

Gallery: Maduro Hails Closer China Ties
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro concluded his weeklong state visit to China on Thursday, where he met Chinese top leaders and signed agreements to enhance cooperation. Maduro, accompanied by his wife Cilia Flores, began his trip in Shenzhen and ventured to cities such as Shanghai and Jinan, ending in Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Venezuela also became the first Latin American country to join the China-initiated International Lunar Research Station project
Sep 14, 2023 16:54 PM

Gallery: Indonesia’s First High-Speed Train
The country’s leader Joko Widodo rode the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train Wednesday, as part of a test run for the $7 billion rail project funded in part by China. The railway spans 142 kilometers (88 miles) and has a reported design speed of 350 kph (217 mph). It connects the capital city of Jakarta with Bandung in West Java province, cutting travel time between the two cities from more than three hours to about 40 minutes. The railway will start running commercially next month
Sep 13, 2023 18:00 PM

Gallery: Russia Rolls Out Red Carpet for Kim
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday at a space launch facility in Russia’s Far East. The meeting was Kim’s first with a foreign leader since North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to reports. A day earlier, Kim arrived on his personal train at the border town of Khasan, where he was welcomed by Russian officials
Sep 12, 2023 17:33 PM

Gallery: Book Paradise on Earth
Beijing’s Ditan Park has been transformed into a book lover’s paradise for the Temple of Earth and Me book fair, an event that has returned after a 10-year hiatus. The 11-day event offers readers the opportunity to purchase books from over 200 exhibitors spread across 350 exhibition booths. After opening Friday, the fair attracted more than 100,000 people over the weekend
Sep 11, 2023 19:02 PM

Gallery: Deadly Quake Strikes Morocco
The country’s deadliest earthquake has killed more than 2,100 and left over 2,400 injured. The quake, 6.8 in magnitude, originated in the High Atlas Mountains late Friday causing widespread destruction in several nearby towns and villages. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. This tremor is the most severe to hit the country in over six decades
Sep 08, 2023 20:37 PM

Gallery: South China Hit by Rainstorms
Heavy rainfall accompanying Typhoon Haikui battered southern China on Thursday, with Hong Kong raising a ‘black rainstorm’ signal as it endured the heaviest rainfall in 139 years. An hourly rainfall of 158.1 millimeters was recorded at one point that day, as the downpours flooded streets and homes in the city and across the region including in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Hong Kong removed its black rainstorm alert on Friday, while red alerts for heavy rainfall in Shenzhen and Guangzhou remained in effect
Sep 08, 2023 20:07 PM

Gallery: Lonely Islands
China has more than 10,000 uninhabited islands. In the 1990s, the government made a push to develop them as tourist destinations. Developers spent hundreds of millions of yuan building hotels on some of the isles, such as Yanwa Island in Zhejiang province. However, their efforts have failed to attract enough visitors and many tourist facilities have fallen into disrepair
Sep 07, 2023 19:43 PM

Gallery: Premier Li Stresses Unity at ASEAN Summit
Premier Li Qiang participated in the 26th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Summit held Wednesday in Jakarta, where he emphasized the importance of unity among the APT countries. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also delivered remarks at the meeting, which was hosted by Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo. At a related event the same day, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris affirmed Washington’s commitment to urging military junta-led Myanmar to embrace democracy. The 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related events conclude Thursday
Sep 07, 2023 19:36 PM

Gallery: Tianjin’s ‘Diving Grandpas’
The group of internet-famous aging divers, who made Tianjin’s Shizilin Bridge their stage for the sport, have called it quits due to growing concerns about public safety. As their diving exploits went viral on social media, crowds swelled to watch the graying men take the plunge. But with an increasing number of thrill-seekers joining in, calls have grown for more safeguards and rescue personnel to be on site
Sep 06, 2023 17:47 PM

Gallery: Typhoon Soaks China’s Coast
Haikui battered China’s east coast, causing widespread flooding across Fujian province. The storm made landfall Tuesday around 5:20 a.m. near the province’s Dongshan county before veering south into Guangdong province. Although Haikui was downgraded to a tropical storm after it reached land, it still triggered record-breaking levels of rain in areas such as Fuzhou, Fujian’s capital. Parts of the province received more than 9.8 inches of rain within a 24-hour period, according to state media. Earlier this week, the typhoon left 116 people injured after it struck Taiwan
Sep 05, 2023 20:01 PM

Gallery: Building ASEAN’s Reputation
Indonesia’s capital is playing host to the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit this week. The summit and related events, which run through Thursday, aim to position the region as a hub of global economic growth. Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most populous country, with approximately 280 million people. With a large youth demographic, the country’s median age is 29.9 years, according to U.N. data