Editor's Note:

China's modernization has been an epic journey over past decades. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has become an attractive destination for many foreigners. Many such expats in the country have fulfilled their career aspirations, while some have found love and started families in China.

Why do they choose to live in China? How do expats in China view and interpret China's achievements and persistence as measured from various perspectives? The Global Times interviewed multiple international residents in China from all walks of life, some of whom have made tangible contributions to China's development, to learn about their understanding of the essence of Chinese culture, and gain an insight into how far China has advanced in its pursuit of development and rejuvenation over the last decade.

When a reporter from the Global Times first met Jake Lee Pinnick at his office at the foot of the Wudang Mountains in Shiyan city, Central China's Hubei Province, she was surprised by the American's fluent Putonghua tinged with a distinct Hubei accent and his traditional Chinese aesthetic.

Dressed in a dark blue Taoist with a black cloth bag and several long bags containing dongxiao and chiba - two kinds of traditional vertical Chinese bamboo flutes - Pinnick said that wherever he goes, he is always clad in a Taoist uniform and carries along a dongxiao for practice.

In 2010, Pinnick moved all the way to Wudang from the US when he was just 20 years old. Since then, he has formed a deep connection with Wudang, martial arts, and traditional Chinese culture.

In over a decade living in Wudang, not only did he become one of the many foreign disciples of Wudang martial arts, but also worked as a foreign teacher of Wudang martial arts and ambassador of traditional Chinese culture and Taoism. In total, he has taught over 500 in-person and thousands of online students around the world, and has over 600 thousand followers across all of his Chinese social media accounts.

He told the Global Times that Wudang has now become a second home, where he found himself, his family, his life, and life-long career. Martial arts and traditional Chinese culture, he said, are where his "lifetime passion" settled, and that martial arts and maintaining a peaceful mind are practices worth pursuing.

Destiny with Wudang

Having grown up in the 1990s in Kewanee, Illinois, a period of time when Chinese martial arts-themed movies were popular overseas, young Pinnick was attracted by martial arts moves in movies such as The Karate Kid, which paved the way for his decision years later to move to China to formally train in Chinese martial arts. 

In 2010, Pinnick, then a college student contemplating the true purpose and meaning of life, was attracted by a video on YouTube in which a Chinese martial arts master was performing martial arts in Yuxu Palace at the foot of the Wudang Mountains. He later decided to temporarily suspend his studies and move to China, finding the master and learning martial arts. 

"I thought that no matter what kind of job or lifestyle I want to have, firstly I need to be healthy and have a long healthy life. I thought that learning martial arts is really a great practice that will keep me healthy into old age, and it's also something that will challenge me," Pinnick recalled to the Global Times.

In Wudang, he found his Shifu (master) - Yuan Xiugang and started a five-year-long traditional martial arts training program, which was also Yuan's first ever five-year traditional martial arts training program open to international students.

Now Pinnick is a 16th generation disciple of the Zhang Sanfeng Lineage of Wudang martial arts under his tutelage, a 15th generation disciple. Zhang Sanfeng was a legendary Taoist priest who is believed to have been the founder of tai chi in ancient China's Song Dynasty (960-1279). 

However, to be a Zhang Sanfeng disciple is not an easy task. Pinnick said that the first six months were the hardest time in his learning process. He had to train for eight or nine hours a day, six days a week, no matter the weather. With no prior martial arts experience, he not only had to overcome the challenges of physical flexibility, but also needed to adapt to the Chinese diet.

Apart from learning martial arts, to be a qualified disciple, Pinnick also learned tai chi, qigong, meditation, and Taoist music and philosophy, as these practices and wealth of knowledge were also parts of the training, but were more about self-cultivation and self-control.

He said that martial arts have guided him out of his confusion regarding the direction that life takes, also helped him to better understand himself and how to care his families and community.

Charm of Chinese philosophy

After graduation, Pinnick chose to stay in Wudang and became a foreign teacher of martial arts, helping his master to teach trainees at the school. He also helped run the English language website of the school, answering questions from global martial arts enthusiasts.

He said that he has returned to the US for short stints, but even during his stay in his home country, he maintained a Chinese lifestyle and kept learning and practicing martial arts every day. After feeling that there were still lots of things he had not learned about Taoism and Chinese culture, he chose to return to China in 2018.

Currently, he teaches practitioners from all over the world online. After the pandemic, he is expected to have more in-person classes for students who come to Wudang. Over the last several years, it is roughly estimated that he has enrolled more than 500 foreign students and thousands of online overseas students, according to media.

After more than 10 years of study and living in Wudang, Pinnick is very familiar with the landscape and ancient architecture of the Wudang Mountains, such as the Nanyan Palace. He is also married to a Chinese woman, and the couple have a beautiful daughter. 

As a martial arts disciple Wudang martial arts and culture, he said that promoting Wudang martial arts and culture is his inescapable mission and responsibility.

With the help of his wife Cao Lingling, Pinnick has recorded many short videos about his daily life and that of his family, which includes practicing martial arts, teaching his students, and playing the dongxiao, posting them on both Chinese and foreign social media platforms. Now he has over 600 thousand followers across all his social media accounts, attracting many foreign martial arts enthusiasts and traditional Chinese cultural learners.

He told the Global Times that martial arts and dongxiao are the best ways for him to calm down and get closer to Taoism no matter where he is. Therefore, wherever he goes, he will always take the dongxiao with him.

Additionally, he is also interested in classic Chinese texts such as the Tao Te Ching. In Pinnick's office, the Global Times reporter saw at least four versions of the Tao Te Ching, some with pinyin inscriptions on them. Pinnick said that he is exploring ways to explain these texts using simple language for foreign learners so as to let more people around the world experience the charm of Chinese philosophy.

"For me, Wudang is just like my second home. I came to Wudang from a completely different world, but I do feel like I have found myself here, and found my family and life here. To this day, everything in my life is centered around Wudang," Pinnick said.

"I have the pleasure of living here and continue my journey. It has been a great experience that I wouldn't trade for anything," he said.

In the future, Pinnick said he wants to open a martial arts school in China or in the US, to teach more people around the world about real martial arts and traditional Chinese culture, and to be a bridge between cultures.

Editor's Note:

On September 10, tropical storm Daniel - an intense Mediterranean hurricane or "medicane" - made landfall in Libya, causing severe flooding in coastal areas resulting in extensive damage. The city of Derna, which was the hardest hit, has seen at least 20 percent of its infrastructure completely destroyed, and a large number of residents have been swept away by flood waters. On Monday, the Chinese government announced that it would provide 30 million yuan ($ 4.1 million) in emergency humanitarian aid to Libya to assist in the rescue efforts. 

Western media outlets have been closely following the severe flooding in the North African nation, but many attributed it to climate change and the internal political turmoil in the country. However, experts have pointed out that such summations fail to recognize the real "culprit" behind the internal division and turmoil in Libya - Western forces, led by the US. 

Twelve years ago, Western countries conducted a so-called "humanitarian intervention" in Libya, and left the wounds inflicted on the Libyan people. The resultant scars from the conflict have once again been laid bare for the world to see by the hurricane. 

A forgotten city

After making landfall in Libya on September 10, tropical storm Daniel, with fierce winds and sudden heavy rain, caused heavy flash flooding in several northeastern areas of the country, with the coastal city of Derna hardest hit. 

The Libyan National Agency for Bridges and Roads said on Monday that 70 percent of infrastructure in the flood-hit areas in eastern Libya was damaged. In addition, 50 percent of the roads in the region were also damaged, with alternative routes opened in disaster areas to allow traffic flow. The storm has, so far, claimed at least 5,500 lives with another 10,000 reported missing, official statistics showed. 

Johr Ali, a Libyan reporter, told the BBC that people in Derna are living through "doomsday." Ali said that his entire families had been washed away by the powerful flood waters. He also told the BBC that a friend found his "nephew dead in the street, thrown away by water from his rooftop."

The havoc currently being witnessed in Libya today is in stark contrast to what a Global Times reporter saw in the country more than a decade ago. When the Global Times reporter was in Libya in 2010 and reported on the "Pentapolis of Ancient Greek Colonies" in the Cyrenaica region in the east of the country, Derna was an important stop. Derna was founded over 2,000 years ago and is situated against the backdrop of the Green Mountains, stretching over 100 kilometers along the coast, facing the Mediterranean Sea. Under Roman rule, it served as a populous and religious center in the Cyrenaica region. In modern times, Derna has cemented its place as one of the wealthiest areas in the North Africa.

Due to its unique location at the intersection of the Green Mountains, the sea, and the Sahara Desert, Derna's climate is warm and humid. Following the winding mountain road for dozens of kilometers, a spectacular view of Derna, which looks like a "delta" is revealed, when viewed from the top of the mountain road. 

Upon entering the city of Derna, the clean streets and well-planned buildings added a layer of orderly beauty to the city. From the perspective of urban governance, Derna's level of city management surpassed that of the largest eastern city of Benghazi during the era of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

However, the city which was the seat of an ancient civilization was unable to withstand the test of the recent brutal natural disaster. The report published by Yale Climate Connections pointed out that the floods in Libya are a climate and infrastructure catastrophe.

It stated that the catastrophe in Libya is the seventh weather-related disaster to kill at least 500 Africans since 2022, an astonishing 23 percent of Africa's 30 deadliest weather-related disasters since 1900 have occurred in the last two years. This ominous figure could well be a harbinger of the future, as higher levels of vulnerability, a growing population, and more extreme weather events from climate change cause an increase in the occurrence of deadly disasters.

"Libya has been beset by chaos since forces backed by the West's NATO military alliance overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011," read the BBC report.

"Since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya has been split between two rival governments and mired in conflict between numerous different militias," it said.

Analysts pointed out that due to the political split in Libya, local officials have little interest in taking care of infrastructure in the country. Derna is now a forgotten ancient city.

The UN-backed Government of National Unity, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, governs the western capital city of Tripoli in Libya. In eastern Libya, including the regions which were most impacted by the floods, a rival administration called the House of Representatives holds power. Additionally, it has control over numerous southern areas, primarily consisting of uninhabited desert, according to media reports.

Local official said that the two dams that burst in a storm had been cracked since 1998. Gaddafi's regime once entrusted repair work of the dam to a Turkish company, but the company did not start the work until 2010 due to payment issues. The project halted less than five months after the revolution that led to 

Gaddafi's downfall, reported the Straits Times. 

According to the report, while every year a budget has been allocated to repair the two dams, "none of the successive governments since 2011 have undertaken the work."

Culpability for the disaster

Analysts pointed out that the West failed to acknowledge culpability for the Libyan disaster. More insidiously, Western powers have tried to spread the narrative that Libyans, or even Arabs and Africans, are inherently incapable of properly running their own affairs.

In the last decade of the Gaddafi regime, the country's economy was robust, while the government increased direct investment into its citizenry with the introduction of foreign investment, the construction of free or cheap housing, and creation of dynamic solutions to unemployment and the housing needs of the country's youth.

"[As for] such a serious disaster, its root and initial cause lies in the US force intervention in Libya's internal affairs, which forcibly overthrew the Gaddafi regime. If the Libyan regime was stable, it would certainly not be so passive in its ability to cope with the flooding, resulting in a large number of lives being lost and property swallowed up by the flooding," AlJab Ala, a columnist for the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, told the Global Times.

In 2011, the US and other Western countries intervened militarily in Libya and supported the opposition in overthrowing the Gaddafi regime. Since then, Libya has been plunged into a prolonged civil war, and the multinational intervention has led to the emergence of two mutually hostile regimes in the country, where economic development and the development of people's livelihoods have been neglected, along with infrastructure disrepair.

Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa and its economy has long been dependent on the energy sector. Statistics from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative show that Libya's oil production fell from 1.48 million barrels per day to 290,000 barrels per day in the first weeks of the war and to 22,000 barrels per day in July 2011, at the height of the conflict. In addition, Libya's oil fields and pipelines are located in the jurisdictions of different factions and tribes, and the different regions have fought over their interests and even sabotaged and obstructed each other.

Zhang Chuchu, deputy director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that in Libya's regime reconstruction, Western powers were committed to the implementation of a Western-style democratic system in the country, fostering a pro-Western government, and that this forced system transplantation not only failed to address the equitable distribution of power but also exacerbated the political struggles and social disparities.

Observers noted that economic and political instability has led to the deterioration of security in Libya. At the civilian level, there have been frequent incidents of armed conflict and other forms of vicious violence; at the State regime level, the remnants of the former regime and different factions within the opposition continue to fight for power and profit. In addition, extremist organizations represented by the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have further aggravated social unrest.

In 2014, in the face of the increasingly severe security situation in Libya, Western countries closed their embassies and consulates in Libya in rapid succession and evacuated their countries' nationals. Libya has been in disarray since then, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

Mired in catastrophic dilemma

"The claim that Washington or Britain cared about the welfare of ordinary Libyans is disproved by a decade of indifference to their plight-culminating in the current suffering in Derna," remarked Monthly Review, an independent US magazine.

Ironically, when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a mere $1 million in initial humanitarian assistance to Libya shortly after the floods hit, online public opinion criticized the US for being "miserly" in its assistance by focusing only on destruction and not on construction.

Zhang told the Global Times that the US and its led West, in addition to directly and forcefully changing Libya's original political and security order, triggering subsequent turmoil, its ability to shape Libya's new order continues to decline. 

Regional competition, however, continues to intensify, placing Libya at a marked disadvantage when measured against its neighbors. Although there has been some progress in Libya's political process, such as the signing of ceasefire agreements, the organizing of talks, and holding of elections, under the active mediation of the United Nations and multiple countries, the country still faces significant challenges. 

Zhang believes that Libya's politics, economy, and society have long been mired in a catastrophic dilemma, in which the ideological separation that exists between the East and the West is now tenuous. 

"If the eastern and western factions in Libya continue to have the ability and willingness to maintain their own operations under external influence, it will be difficult to discuss national construction and social integration. Therefore, the way forward for Libya lies in simultaneous improvements in both internal and external environments, ultimately leading to an inclusive power structure," she said.

As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, the Western public has been told that this or that wonder weapon system will turn the tide of the conflict. This has included Javelins, HIMARS, Leopards, Storm Shadow, Bradleys, F-16s, and now depleted uranium munitions, none of which has fundamentally changed the tide of the conflict.

After the slow progress of Kiev's counteroffensive this summer, it is immediately apparent that high-tech equipment is not ruling the day but logistics and supply chains. It is not about who has the shiniest toys but who has the most troops, tanks and artillery and can deploy them quickly. On that front, Russia clearly dwarfs Ukraine, which is a much smaller country. Due to the fact that the West is evidently not going to join in this conflict directly, and there is growing resentment from the Western public against military aid to Kiev, people are wondering if the two sides will reach a peaceful settlement.

We are constantly told, however, that the latter possibility is somehow wrong or immoral because it will fundamentally grant Russia a victory. Well, morals aside, the reality clearly shows that Moscow is achieving its military objectives. Winning on the battlefield naturally translates to a more favorable negotiating position, and believing otherwise is to live in a realm of make-believe. 

Some people idealistically (or opportunistically) believe that the West should support Ukraine's futile fight against a far superior military power, even though that support will not challenge the eventual outcome and will lead to more death and destruction. Others believe death and destruction are undesirable outcomes; thus, Western leaders should pivot to a negotiations-first approach. The former view dominates the news media while the latter has gained a huge following on social media. 

What's also interesting about the difference between these two views and how they've fielded an audience is also about who's backing them. People who hold the latter view are constantly accused - without evidence - of being funded by the Russian government or, as some US intelligence reports suggest, unwitting assets. Meanwhile, a recent analysis by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft found that think tanks funded by defense industry ？contractors are cited 85 percent of the time in Ukraine-related content - and media outlets rarely cite these conflicts of interest. 

So, which of these viewpoints is compromised? I believe it's safe to say the latter. And that's important because we need to understand the dynamic here: The media is quite literally operating as a paid advertiser for defense contractors. Not only do some outlets consistently peddle that some particular line of products will turn the tide of battle (they will not), but they also cite compromised experts that push a line conducive to selling more defense products. Rinse and repeat.

This is what is so sinister about modern conflict. When you look at the decades that the West was entrenched in Afghanistan, the current Ukraine quagmire or a potential situation in Taiwan island, it's not about any serious geopolitical strategy or values. It's just about making a handful of companies richer. Worse still is that this is public, taxpayer money going to this cabal - and, to be sure, primarily working-class funds when taken in conjunction with the historic Reagan, Bush and Trump tax cuts, which cut taxes for the wealthy. 

It would be extraordinarily naive to believe that defense contractors and the people they fund have incentives that supersede the profit motive. Instead, these companies profit from death and human suffering, and they're enabled by information laundering operations known as think tanks, which are cited without any scrutiny from journalists who are either lazy or also compromised.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been facing a headache recently: a constant low approval rating. Japanese media outlet Mainichi Shimbun reported on Monday that the approval rating for Kishida's cabinet stood at 25 percent in a recent nationwide public opinion poll conducted by the newspaper, tying the record low backing his administration saw in December 2022.

A week beforehand, Kishida reshuffled his cabinet and executives of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), with 11 ministers taking on cabinet posts for the first time, while six remain in place. The new cabinet also includes five women among the 19 total positions, which is considered to be a selling point for boosting Kishida's support rate. 
Judging from past, the approval rating for the cabinet often sees an obvious increase after a reshuffle, but the revamp failed to achieve such an effect this time, reflecting structural problems in the Kishida administration.

First, there was no pressing need for a reshuffle of the cabinet. The revamp this time seems to have infused new blood into the cabinet, but there has been no change in key positions, such as chief cabinet secretary, finance minister and minister of economy, trade and industry. Meanwhile, Kishida has retained Toshimitsu Motegi as his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general and Taro Aso as vice president, which means that the structure of the regime generally remains unchanged and current policies will continue.

In addition to Tetsuro Nomura, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, who was replaced in the reshuffle due to the controversy over calling the Fukushima nuclear wastewater "contaminated," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara was replaced because of alleged scandals. But Kihara was soon appointed to the post of acting secretary-general of the LDP and special advisor to the chairperson of the Policy Research Council. This is just a change from governmental to party post.

Second, the cabinet reshuffle was only intended to complete the distribution of factional interests. After being elected president of the LDP, Kishida proposed that party officials rather than the president should be limited to one term of one year and only up to three consecutive terms. In this way, the LDP is bound to face a reshuffle every year. Kishida kept the positions of Aso and Motegi, but the issue of the appointment of other senior party members is still a very difficult matter for Kishida. Taking into account the balance of the major factions in the LDP, Kishida had to swap the positions of some members of the party and cabinet.

At the same time, the LDP has seen a considerable number of party members who are qualified to enter the cabinet but don't have the chance to because of Shinzo Abe's stable leadership since 2012. This pushed Kishida into the cabinet reshuffle. In other words, it is more of a coordination of the top party and government officials and an adjustment to satisfy the interests of different party factions.

Third, Kishida's reshuffle failed to bring about major policy changes. His nepotism and closed-mindedness are what Japanese public opinion has particularly criticized.
As far as his policies are concerned, Kishida said during his campaign for the leadership that people's voices should be heard; but what we see more in the process of policy formulation and implementation are his subjective assertions. For example, before the nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping began, although Kishida visited Fukushima to inspect the area, he did not meet with or listen to the voices of the fishing communities in Fukushima Prefecture.

According to public opinion polls conducted by several media outlets, what the Japanese public questions most is Kishida's lack of leadership skills. The cabinet reshuffle did not touch on the essence of the problem, which is the crux of Kishida's low approval rating even after the revamp. Instead of focusing on gaining people's trust, Kishida seems to put his mind toward the distribution of political interests and the balance of power of party factions, so as to lay the foundation for his reelection in next year's LDP leadership election.

Huawei is to hold a high-profile new product launch event on Monday afternoon, which is expected to be the launch of a series of products including Huawei Smart Screen V5 Pro and Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2-inch flagship tablet, according to media reports.

However, insiders told the Global Times that there won’t be too many details of the closely-watched Mate 60 Pro phone series to be unveiled at the event, which has generated buzz among Chinese consumers for weeks after an unexpected debut on August 29, with some hailing the phone as representing a significant chip breakthrough.

The planned launch on Monday has drawn “unprecedented” attention across China, attracting the live broadcast and live-streaming of more than 100 media outlets. On Monday morning, Huawei-related “concept” stocks were active, with many jumping by 10 percent, hitting their daily limit.

Industry observers were anticipating a formal detailing of the phone's specs and in particular the chipsets in the phone, which reportedly utilizes the Kirin 9000S chip, featuring either 7-nm or 5-nm process technology. Huawei has kept tight-lipped about the capabilities of the chip.

On August 29, Huawei surprised the market by kicking off early presales of Mate 60 Pro smartphone series ahead of Apple’s annual big launch event. Since then, Mate 60 Pro has been a big seller across the country.

Consumers have been queuing up to grab a mobile phone outside Huawei’s offline stores.

Monday also marks the two-year return of Meng Wanzhou in 2021. Meng, now a rotating chairperson of Huawei, was arrested by Canadian authorities in December 2018 under the request of the US government.

Some netizens said a stronger Huawei returning to the center stage of global tech innovation may be considered as "a slap in the face" to the US government's ruthless suppression and attack on the leading Chinese tech company, especially as the planned event date marks two years of Meng's safe return from Canada to China.

Looking ahead, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in a recent interview that US sanctions on Huawei provided both pressure and impetus. “Huawei may encounter more difficulties, but at the same time becomes more prosperous too,” Ren said.

China has released a number of measures to revive domestic tourism and further unleash consumption potential on the first day of the Golden Week holidays on Friday, on which the world’s second-largest economy has witnessed record railway trips, traffic and long queues outside tourist spots.

The series of rules covers a wider range of areas including enhancing high-quality tourism products and services, expanding marine tourism products, optimizing tourism infrastructure investment, increasing international flights, offering convenience for inbound tourism and expanding financing channels for tourist enterprises, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency, citing a document from the State Council.

The stimulus measures aim to further meet the people’s aspirations for a better life, and leverage the significant role of the tourism industry in advancing economic and social development, the report said.

Stimulus targeting the tourism industry is being launched at a critical time, when Chinese authorities have been ramping up efforts to shore up confidence and stabilize growth as the world’s second-largest economy has seen signs of recovery over the past months. 

Analysts have expected a surge on consumption during the Golden Week holidays, which falls from Friday to October 6, it’s China’s longest public holiday this year.

Traffic is quite busy. On the first day of the eight-day holidays, the national railway network is experiencing its peak passenger flow, with roughly 20.2 million trips are made on this day. A total of 12,508 passenger trains are scheduled to operate, including 1,841 additional trains added to accommodate the surge in passenger demand on the day.

Specifically, the railway network in the Yangtze River Delta region, one of China’s most economically dynamic areas, is expected to see 3.5 million trips on Friday, an increase of 60 percent compared with the same time in 2019. 

In response to the high passenger volume during this travel peak, the railway authorities said they are making every effort to tap into the transportation potential, maximize capacity, and ensure that the travel needs of the passengers are met to the best extent possible.

In terms of commercial aviation, more than 21 million travelers will take flights in the span of eight days, with the aviation meal production workshop is operating 24 hours a day to ensure a sufficient meal supply during the holiday period, according to a report from ThePaper.cn.
The official start of the eight-day holidays goes hand in hand with the peak of tourism season nationwide. Data from travel agencies showed that during this holiday period, the popularity of long-distance travel products, primarily to destinations like Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, and Yunnan Province, have seen a year-on-year increase of over 300 percent. 

Long-distance group tours have become a rising trend, with no decrease in the popularity of major cities, and lesser-known places are also gaining attention. Furthermore, the entertainment industry has seen  “retaliatory growth” this year, with consumers showing a sustained enthusiasm for attending shows. “Traveling  with performances” has become a new trend for holidaymakers.

The film industry has also rebounded. As of 5:50 pm on Friday, the box office for the 2023 National Day holiday season has exceeded 300 million yuan ($41.11 million), according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan. 

China will build a batch of regional highlands and technological platforms for artificial intelligence (AI), in a bid to deepen enterprise-led integration of industry, research and application, and promote AI-enabled economic and social development, Wang Zhigang, Chinese minister of science and technology, said at a major AI event on Thursday.

Officials and industry practitioners also said at the event that the new generation of AI will become a new engine for the development of the economy and society.

"The application scenarios of AI continue to expand, making the AI-empowered industrial mode change from small manual workshops into the era of large-scale industrialization, which will have a significant and far-reaching impact on economic development, social progress, global governance and many other aspects," Wang said on Thursday, while addressing the opening ceremony of the 7th World Intelligence Congress (WIC), which runs until Sunday in Tianjin Municipality.

The accelerated evolution of brain-like intelligence, quantum intelligence, big data and other technological areas has led to a mass breakthrough in frontier fields, which is expected to achieve major technological changes, Wang noted.

Relying on the advantages of China's super-large market, AI will attract global innovation resources to deeply integrate with China's real economy, and constantly create a new trend of industrial development while becoming a new engine of economic and social development, Wan Gang, president of the China Association for Science and Technology, said at the WIC.

"The new generation of AI should focus on expansion in application markets and industrial ecological cultivation," said Wan.

With the rapid development of AI, China has achieved remarkable economic and social empowerment. By 2022, China ranked first in the world in the number of AI patent applications.

According to official statistics, China has a leading edge in computer vision, natural language processing and voice recognition, and its core industry scale exceeds 500 billion yuan ($71.2 billion), with more than 4,200 representative enterprises, accounting for about 16 percent of the world's total.

China ranked 11th in the Global Innovation Index, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization. In terms of scientific and technological innovation, including the field of AI, China is not only an important player in international frontier innovation, but also an important contributor to jointly solving global problems.

Under its blueprint of AI development, China has established a total of 18 national pilot zones, including Beijing and Tianjin, for the development of next-generation AI innovation and 32 open innovation platforms, according to official statistics.

While attaching great importance to the development of AI, the Chinese government is fully aware that technologies including AI have two sides, Wang noted.

At the same time, China also sees that the development of AI is still faced with technical challenges, such as the deviation of underlying algorithms, lack of high-quality data, model efficiency to be improved, and social challenges to personal privacy, public safety, education and employment. China urges cooperation with countries around the world to jointly promote the sustainable and healthy development of AI.

"We have actively responded to the risks and challenges that may be brought by AI, and promoted the ethical governance of AI. China [in November 2022] published a position paper on strengthening the ethical governance of AI, demonstrating to the world a clear position on the responsible development of AI," said Wang.

ChatGPT and brain computer interface (BCI) were key issues for discussion at the 2023 WIC. 

On Thursday, a BCI system was launched at the high-tech event, which has set the current world record for the fastest non-invasive BCI system. With a small device on your head, a computer can type out what you think.

The WIC attracted participation of 117 of the world's top 500 companies, 369 of China's top 500 companies, and more than 1,000 well-known unicorn technology companies, universities and institutions, according to the organizers.

The event uses cutting-edge technologies such as AI and metauniverse to comprehensively showcase the latest technologies and products in intelligent industries, smart cities, smart manufacturing and smart living.

These cutting-edge technologies have dazzled many participants.

Andrew Starforth, general manager of the China division of Silverstream Technologies, was one of them.

"All the technologies are in place. And various local companies, not ones that are recognized globally compared to big players, are developing technology that is better than what you can see elsewhere," Starforth told the Global Times on Thursday on the sidelines of the 2023 WIC.

Starforth went to work in China in 1999 and stayed for five years. He moved back in 2018. "The changes in China in the past six years have been phenomenal."

Describing China in 1999 and 2023 as worlds apart, Starforth said that China has advanced quickly.

China’s security ministry lashed out against a new US Intelligence Strategy on Monday by exposing four dangerous, ill-suited and parasitic modes of thinking emerging from the US intelligence community – Cold War mentality of targeting China, zero-sum thinking, hegemonic thinking and confrontational thinking. 

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a statement that the policy orientation set by the US National Intelligence Strategy is aimed at deterring China and is merely a new iteration of the “China threat theory,” also a clear declaration of the US intelligence community to open an era of “targeting China.”  

The new US National Intelligence Strategy, unveiled on August 10, aims to better prepare the US for a range of threats that are no longer limited to traditional nation-state competitors such as China and Russia or terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, VOA reported.

China’s security ministry in the statement advised the US intelligence community to take a sober approach toward the present-day China and the international landscape. Immersing itself in backward and misguided notions will only result in self-inflicted harm and undermine its own interests, the ministry warned. 

The MSS firstly revealed the Cold War mentality behind the US National Intelligence Strategy, saying though it has been over 30 years since the Cold War has been ended , some individuals in the US intelligence community have only adapted to the new multipolar world physically, while their mindset remains stuck in the bipolar confrontation of the Cold War era. 

They have been constantly searching for a “perfect adversary” to showcase their skills, treating China as a “toolbox” to leverage their own value domestically and as a scapegoat for disguising security challenges internationally. 

From establishing the “China Mission Center” to advocating for the reconstruction of intelligence networks in China, from launching “witch-hunt operations” against Chinese scholars to pressuring countries to “decouple” from China, the US intelligence agencies have skillfully employed strategies from the Cold War era, erecting a new “Iron Curtain” to hinder global prosperity and development, the ministry wrote in a statement. 

The ministry pointed out that the zero-sum thinking over “absolute security” is apparent in its National Intelligence Strategy, which lists numerous new security threats but fails to propose effective strategies for deepening international security cooperation. 

Pursuing its own security while neglecting common security of the world countries and viewing competition and cooperation among nations as a simple zero-sum game, this is where the entrenched malady of the “US security concept” persists, the MSS said. 

Even in the 21st century, the US continues to follow the law of the jungle, where only one side can win at the expense of others. This approach only leads countries into a “prisoner’s dilemma” of mutual distrust and ultimately makes the US itself less secure. “America First” has become the root cause of turmoil and suffering in the world, the ministry said. 

As the sole superpower, imposing its own will on the world is an inherent logic of American hegemony. Citing “American values” and referring to the “international security order,” the US only aims to uphold the “US-centered international order,” the ministry pointed out. 

As early as World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor to the CIA) proposed implementing propaganda and subversive actions to shape the post-war world order. In 1948, the CIA launched the “Operation Gladio” and interfered in elections in Italy. In 1953, the CIA carried out the “Operation Ajax” to overthrow the Mossadegh government in Iran, the MSS said. 

Starting in 2003, a series of “color revolutions” occurred in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, with the US intelligence department being regarded as important behind-the-scenes actors, it added. 

The ability to shape security in line with global hegemony is a persistent goal that the US has been pursuing, however, its unilateralism and egotism are triggering increasingly strong criticism and opposition from the international community, the security ministry said. 

Placing importance on leveraging allies is the biggest difference that the Biden administration self-proclaims as part of its foreign policy compared to the Trump administration. But the truth is that the so-called “alliances and partnerships” is essentially the act of coercing other countries to take sides and firmly binding them to the US intelligence apparatus. 

The security ministry referenced the Russia-Ukraine conflict, to solidify anti Russia alliance, the US intelligence community has been hyping up over on the European energy supply chain and the Nord Stream pipeline issue remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

While in the Asia-Pacific region, the US has aggressively promoted the “Indo-Pacific strategy” and rallied the “Five Eyes alliance,” “Quad mechanism,” and “trilateral security partnerships” to create intelligence cliques, pressuring countries to join in an anti-China chorus, the ministry stated. 

However, being an intelligence ally of the US not only requires willingly acting as a “pawn” but also accepting the meticulous “special care” of the “big brother’ at all times, the ministry said.

Citing media reports, the ministry pointed out that the US National Security Agency has long monitored the heads of state and government of allied nations, also established technical eavesdropping bases covering neighboring countries in a certain European country, and even demanded the country’s intelligence agency assist the US in monitoring its own government officials. 

Such absurd demands can only come from a “peculiar ally” like the US, the ministry added. 

Once every 69 years, a nearby star dramatically dims for about three and a half years during the longest known stellar eclipse in our galaxy.

The star, called TYC 2505-672-1, is a red giant, about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Leo Minor. The star is orbited by a dim, hot companion star that appears to be enveloped by a thick cloud of dust roughly one to three times as wide as Earth’s orbit. The cloud, reported in an upcoming Astronomical Journal, blocks much of the red star’s light from reaching Earth for a good long time.

Researchers already knew that TYC 2505-672-1 had drastically faded recently. But astronomer Joseph Rodriguez of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and colleagues scoured data from many telescopes — including a Harvard University photograph archive dating back to 1890 — and found that the starlight dipped and rebounded not only between 2011 and 2015 but also in the 1940s. The previous eclipse record holder was Epsilon Aurigae, a star 2,000 light-years away that dims for about 24 months every 27 years.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on April 27, 2016, to correct distances and the name of the previous eclipse record holder.

There’s no known mad plant disease. But prions — which show their dark side in mad cow disease — may occur in plants as a form of memory.

Prions are proteins that change shape and shift tasks, and then trigger other proteins to make the same change. Inheriting prions lets cells “remember” and replicate that shift in form and function. Now a protein called luminidependens, which is connected with flowering, shows signs of these shapeshifter and template powers, researchers report April 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study coauthor Susan Lindquist of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., and her colleagues devised a way to test plant proteins for prion power by swapping bits of them into yeast prions. Luminidependens, found in the common lab plant Arabidopsis thaliana, fit the criteria, and may be the first botanical protein shown to act like a prion. Prionlike memory might be useful in such floral tasks as keeping track of a decent winter’s chill.