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Recently, National Ministry of Science and Technology announced the list of national science and technology business incubators in 2021. Wuhu Zicheng technology business incubator was selected. Up to now, the number of national incubation carriers in Wuhu has risen to 12.

It is understood that Wuhu Zicheng technology business incubator was settled in Wuhu High–tech Zone in 2015, adhering to the trinity development strategy of “investment + incubation + consultation”. At present, more than 50 enterprises have settled in, covering various fields such as Internet, intelligent hardware, cultural creativity and industrial design, and providing more than 600 jobs.

National science and technology business incubator is the training base and support platform for innovative and entrepreneurial talents as well as an important part of the national innovation system. In recent years, Wuhu High–tech Zone has thoroughly implemented the concept of innovative development, and actively built an incubation zone for resource accumulation, platform building, talent introduction and training.

  Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) — China will further expand the industry catalog of sectors encouraging foreign investment, authorities said.

The new list will add 238 more items, while up to 114 existing ones will be modified with expansion, said a notice issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The increase is particularly relevant to items related to manufacturing, producer services, and those in the central and western regions, said the notice.

The sub-catalog of competitive industries in the central and western areas encouraging foreign investment will introduce 188 new items, having modified 52.

New items added to the national-level sub-catalog will include components and parts and equipment manufacturing in the manufacturing sector. It will also add professional design, technical services, and development in the producer services sector.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 25.6 percent year on year to 379.87 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year, the MOC said.

A ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth League of China is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 10, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

The future of the world is in the hands of the younger generation. A nation can be full of hope that it will enjoy a bright future when its younger generations have ideals, ability and a strong sense of responsibility. And a nation that maintains its youthful vigor will prosper.

This was the essence of the important speech President Xi Jinping delivered at a grand gathering to mark the 100th anniversary of the Communist Youth League of China on Tuesday morning. And it should inspire its members to inherit the Youth League’s historical legacy and spare no efforts in making their due contributions to national rejuvenation.

Over the past 100 years, since it was established on May 5, 1922, the League has made important contributions to the achievements of the Chinese revolution and national development with its vitality, knowledge, courage and patriotism. And in the new era, the 81.25 million members of the League, who are aged between 14 and 28, continue to make key contributions to the efforts to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Like a relay race, that great cause of the Party and the Chinese people has entailed the endeavors of generations of young people. And Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged the Youth League members to build up firm beliefs, and boost their courage and skills to better carry on the historical responsibility of the League in the face of the complex situation today.

Speaking at a ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, he called on the League to act as a strong bond between the Party and Chinese youth, helping them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics and communism in practice at an early age, and cultivating trust in the Party, confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics and belief in Marxism, so that they uphold the banner of patriotism and socialism.

Saying that over the past century, the firm beliefs and convictions demonstrated by the members of the Communist Youth League of China have served as the most fundamental and long-lasting source of cohesiveness, Xi urged the League to pursue self-reform and explore new models for its grassroots organizations in light of the profound changes in how young people today live and work, so as to consolidate and expand the patriotic united front of youth.

Young people are like saplings that thrive on the earth, and with the care of the Communist Youth League of China, the Party and the nation, the Chinese youth of today will grow into towering trees in the future. And with the country’s youth mobilized to make new and greater contributions to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the country can face the future with confidence.

Tourists camp at a site in Wuyi county, East China’s Zhejiang province, May 2, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

Camping proved to be a popular option over the recent May Day holiday in China, with many of those able to travel choosing to forgo the fast pace of city life for the serene surroundings of nature while abiding by COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a news release on Wednesday that short-distance tours remained the most popular choice among travelers over the five-day break from April 30 to Wednesday, due to the tightening of travel restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Tour products that featured camping and recreational vehicles were a popular choice among travelers, especially young and trendy people looking for new ways to experience travel.

“I went camping and had a picnic with my friends deep in the mountains during the holiday,” said 31-year-old Ji Nan from Anji, Zhejiang province. “On the first day, we six drove about two hours from the city and put up our tents at around noon.”

She had planned a family trip to Sanya, Hainan province, to spend the holiday but canceled it due to the epidemic.

“It’s safer to take a self-driving tour and spend one or two days with people we are familiar with.”

Ji said that to her family and friends, camping was not a second choice but a good way to get closer to nature. “It was relaxing, rather than just sleeping in a new place,” she added.

Figures from travel agencies demonstrated the popularity of camping over the holiday and how, in turn, it has boosted consumption at entertainment venues, hotels and homestays near camp sites.

Trip.com, an online travel agency, said page views for their camping products on the first day of the holiday rose by 90 percent from the previous week. It said that reservations for hotels and homestays in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, the top choice for campers, rose by 130 percent compared with bookings made during the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday in early April.

It added that reservations for hotels and homestays with a hashtag related to camping increased by 153 percent compared with during the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

Figures from online travel platform Fliggy show that 90 percent of bookings for camping-related products were made by people born after 1980.

It said camping-related reservations over the holiday rose by 350 percent compared to the same period in April, and travelers from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Guangzhou showed an overwhelming preference for camping.

“We had some gear for camping sell out around a week before the holiday started,” said Ren Tian, from online travel services provider Qunar. “The sales volume was three times higher than during the same period last year.”

According to Qunar, sales of park tickets where camping sites and services are offered to travelers surged 50 percent year-on-year.

China’s camping market is expected to continue growing in the coming years. According to a report released by Guangzhou-based research firm iiMedia Research, the scale of China’s camping market increased from 7.71 billion yuan ($1.16 billion) in 2014 to 29.9 billion yuan in 2021, and it is expected to grow by 18.6 percent in 2022 to 35.46 billion yuan.

In addition to camping-related products, kites, frisbees, barbecues, bonfires, open-air movies, as well as recreational vehicle trips and other outdoor activities have also become increasingly popular.

The camping industry in China has become one of the indispensable forms of outdoor tourism. As the country’s outdoor recreation tourism grows, camping near urban areas will become increasingly popular, as it has fewer requirements and doesn’t need long-distance travel, said Zhang Sining, a researcher with the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

The reporter learned that recently, the bidding for the construction of the main project of Wuwei (Taqiao) to Chaohu (Muji) section of Tongling-Shangcheng Expressway was started. After the completion of the project, another high-speed channel linking Hefei and Wuhu will be opened.

The project starts from the hub Taqiao near Hedian Town, Wuwei City, passes through Kaicheng Town, Yanqiao Town and Ba town of Chaohu City and terminates at Wannian village of Huailin Town, Chaohu City, connecting Tongling Yangtze River Highway and Shijian-Taqiao section of Wuwei-Tongcheng Expressway from southeast to northwest. Muji hub will be set to connect with G4224 Expressway that is under construction.

The total length of the route is about 27.456 kilometers, including a large bridge, three bridges, two small and medium bridges; four interconnected crossing bridges, namely Taqiao, Kaicheng, Bazhen and Muji. Besides, seven main line separated interchanges, two ramp toll stations, a maintenance area and other supporting facilities will be equipped.

The designed speed of the project of Wuwei (Taqiao) to Chaohu (Muji) section is 120 kilometers per hour, with asphalt concrete pavement structure. The total estimate of the project is about 4.975 billion yuan. The project is planned to be completed and opened to traffic in 2025.

 Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

China will likely meet its annual growth target of around 5.5 percent this year with the help of the government’s effective measures to control COVID-19 outbreaks and stabilize market expectations, economists and experts said.

Despite facing mounting pressure from a resurgence in domestic COVID-19 cases and a complicated and grim external environment, they believe the country has plenty of policy tools to stabilize the overall economy, while the impact of outbreaks is likely to be temporary.

Citing China’s faster-than-expected 4.8 percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter, they said there still exists a gap between first-quarter growth and the country’s annual growth target, calling for more steps to accelerate macroeconomic policy support, especially for hard-hit enterprises and sectors.

Compared with major economies, China reported higher GDP growth with lower inflation in the first quarter, demonstrating robust economic resilience despite downward pressures, said Wang Yiming, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Wang said at a Chinese economic situation seminar on Saturday in Beijing that while China witnessed sustainable industrial growth, rising investment demand and strong innovation momentum in the first quarter, the growth of major economic indicators have slowed since March because of the COVID-19 cases and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

With many market entities like micro and small businesses facing difficulties and mounting pressures, he said, more efforts should be made to actively respond to the concerns of those entities to stabilize market expectations and provide stronger macroeconomic policy adjustments to stabilize the economy.

Wang’s views were echoed by Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. Considering the strong resilience of the economy and China’s ample tools, Liu believes China has the confidence to meet its annual growth target of around 5.5 percent in 2022.

Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Economy at the University of International Business and Economics, said China’s economy will remain in the process of recovery this year while facing pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and monetary policy adjustments in the United States and Europe.

“The economic situation is challenging,” said Zhang Xiaoqiang, executive vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

He said it is of great importance to ensure economic stability and actively respond to the concerns of foreign businesses to stabilize foreign investment and international trade.

A new survey released by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and Roland Berger consultancy showed China’s domestic COVID-19 cases and the Russia-Ukraine crisis are creating severe challenges to European business operations.

The survey said 23 percent of respondents are now considering shifting current or planned investments out of China to other markets, more than double the number that were considering doing so at the beginning of 2022.

Given challenges in the foreign trade sector, the Ministry of Commerce will work to safeguard smooth logistics and production activities, improve financial support and encourage new business forms, such as cross-border commerce, said Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce.

China’s consumption market will further expand, as the country has 1.4 billion people, including 400 million middle-income earners, he said.

Sheng said the Chinese market will remain open and unleash more opportunities for global enterprises, as the fundamentals of the Chinese economy will continue to improve.

Trademark is an important symbol to distinguish the sources of goods and services, and it is also a significant intangible property of enterprises. It was learned on May 6th that the trademarks “Conch” and “Chery” of our city were successfully selected in the first batch of trademark protection lists that include 25 trademarks in total in Anhui Province released by Anhui Administration for Market Regulation.

Based on “Anhui Province Intellectual Property Protection Measures”, trademark protection lists in Anhui Province include registered trademarks in the province that enjoy high reputation, have greater market influence, and are easily infringed and counterfeited into the key protection lists, aiming at strengthening the protection of trademark exclusive rights and trademark brands, safeguarding the development of brand economy and promoting high-quality development.

By the end of 2021, the total effective number of registered trademarks in Wuhu reached 126,182, ranking first in the province in terms of the growth rate. There are 2,867 registered trademarks per 10,000 market entities, ranking first in the province as well. Market regulation departments at all levels in Wuhu will also establish and improve a long-term mechanism for trademark protection, step up efforts in the investigation and punishment of counterfeit registered trademarks and trademark infringement cases, strengthen the protection of trademarks in all aspects, and better protect the legitimate rights of trademark owners.

 Translated by Wang Mengxiao from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

On April 15th, Fanchang District held an online signing of investment projects in the second quarter of 2022 through a video conference. 26 projects were signed with a planned total investment of 12.89 billion yuan, which showed the fruitful achievements made by the district in epidemic prevention and control as well as promoting economic and social development and adhering to the implementation of investment attraction and talents recruitment.

Since the beginning of this year, Fanchang District has made every effort to promote the high-quality development by means of investment attraction and talents recruitment, and has introduced a number of good and major projects centering on the key industrial chain. The 26 signed projects include the following industries such as 3D printing, intelligent equipment, comprehensive health, new materials, new energy and energy conservation and environmental protection, textile and clothing, modern service industry, modern agriculture, etc, covering the modern logistics industrial park project with a total investment of 1.8 billion yuan, the shared intelligent equipment project with a total investment of 743 million yuan, and the star-rated hotel project with a total investment of 500 million yuan, etc.

An official in charge of Fanchang District said that the centralized signing of the projects and the launch and implementation of each project will bring the robust impetus to the high-quality development of the district, so as to realize the economic and social development goals for the whole year.

Translated by Wang Mengxiao from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

Dear Foreign Nationals, Hong Kong and Macao Compatriots:

This time of year, should be a good time for outing and leisure, but the pandemic has hit us, unfortunately. The pathogen of this outbreak is the Novel Coronavirus Ormicron variant, which is highly infectious, stealthy and rapidly spreading.

In order to protect everyone’s health and safety, eradicate the virus, and eliminate the transmission chain of the epidemic as quickly as possible, Wuhu Municipal Party Committee and Wuhu Municipal Government decided to perform static management and regional Nucleic Acid Testing in the downtown area, starting at 4 o ‘clock on April 17.

For your health and the health of others, we kindly want to remind you:

1. Actively cooperate with epidemic prevention and control. Please actively cooperate with governments at all levels, departments and communities to carry out screening, Nucleic Acid Testing, personnel control and disinfection of key sites. If you have recently visited medium-high risk areas or come into contact with people from medium-high risk areas, please pay close attention to your physical condition and report to your employer or local community staff as soon as possible.

2. Focus on authoritative information. Please visit the official website of Wuhu Municipal Health Commission and the official wechat account of “Wuhu Release” “Dajiang Information” to obtain the epidemic prevention and control guidelines as well as the official notification of the outbreak.You can also call the government service hotline 12345 for consultation.

3. Strengthen self-protection. Please stop all unnecessary movements and activities in accordance with the requirements of community control. Do not go out, visit others or gather together. Taking part in every round of Nucleic Acid Testing in a timely manner as required, wear masks properly, queue up in a civilized and orderly manner, and keep a social distance of at least 1.5 meters from others. Strictly abide by and implement all regulations on epidemic prevention and control, maintain good hygiene habits, wash hands frequently, ventilate regularly, and wear masks.

During this special period, Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government will spare no efforts to serve you.      Contact: Tao Weixian,  tel: 0553-3826363, 19955358798.

We firmly believe that under the strong leadership of the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, and the joint efforts of all people, a warm and comfortable life will come back soon. With your support, we are more confident to defeat the epidemic at an early date. We wish you health and Peace!

Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government                                      Wuhu People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

April 18, 2022                                                                                                                        April 18, 2022

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

A farmer uses a machine to plant soybeans in Bozhou, Anhui province. [Photo by Liu Qinli/For China Daily]

China released an action plan recently on expanding the planting of soybean and oil crops at State-owned farms to ensure national food security and the supply of important agricultural products, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

This year, the country will plant more than 973,300 hectares of soybeans and 300,000 hectares of oil crops including rapeseed, sunflower and peanuts at State-owned farms, and the yield of soybean and oil crops is expected to increase by 2 percent, the plan said.

State-owned farms are being urged to develop and utilize scientific crop rotation and combined planting of soybeans, corn and cash crops in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, while promoting strong seed varieties and advanced agricultural machinery, according to the plan.

State-owned farms in major agricultural production areas should rotate rapeseed and forage grass, and rice and oil crops, it added.

Zhang Wenli, a researcher at the ministry’s rural economy research center, said crop rotation, which involves the seasonal rotation of different crops on the same piece of cultivated farmland, can increase land yields and protect the fertile black soil in Northeast China.

“Apart from crop rotation, we need good varieties and cultivation techniques to increase yield. Also, reducing loss during machine harvesting is important,” Zhang said.

The plan proposed promoting a batch of soybean and oil crop varieties with robust performance.

Seed enterprises that supply State-owned farms are being encouraged to cooperate with colleges and scientific research institutions in cultivating robust varieties that can tolerate high saline and alkaline soils, resist poor growing conditions and are suitable for agricultural machinery.

With fertile farmland and high commodity rates, State-owned farms must take the lead in safeguarding national food security and the supply of agricultural products, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Heilongjiang has the largest State-owned farm in China and soybean production in the province accounts for 40 percent of the country’s total.

The Mudanjiang base of Beidahuang Agricultural Reclamation Group, a State-owned enterprise in the province, plans to plant 73,000 hectares of soybean this year, an increase of 56 percent year-on-year, according to Farmers’ Daily.

The farm in Mudanjiang established a demonstration zone for cultivating high-yield soybean varieties, precision sowing, fertilizing and spraying pesticides to improve the efficiency of growing soybeans.

The seeds cultivated on the farm are expected to grow across 253,000 to 333,000 hectares of farmland, with a per hectare yield hitting 3.75 metric tons.

The farm has bought advanced farming equipment including high-speed harvesters and automated seeders, and two vehicles with autonomous navigation systems.

Autonomous operation throughout the farming process from planting to storage is to be achieved at the farm.

Zhang said State-owned farms must have advanced agricultural machinery and a complete business chain involving processing and marketing, so they can contribute to higher marketability of agricultural products.

“The comprehensive management of State-owned farms can reduce grain loss and benefit farmers greatly,” she said.

Beidahuang group provides group-purchasing services for smaller farms. The group buys seeds and fertilizers at lower prices and manages the entire process from production to sales, which ensures the profits of soybean growers, according to China Rural News, a media outlet of the ministry.

This year, expanded planting of soybeans and oil crops has been stressed by China’s top leadership and agriculture authorities in a bid to boost self-sufficiency in agricultural products.

More than 80 percent of China’s soybean consumption relies on imports.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is affecting global oil crop supply as Ukraine is the world’s top exporter of sunflower oil and rapeseed.