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Candidates look at employment opportunities at a job fair in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Liu Jianhua/For China Daily]

11m new urban positions targeted, with greater support for graduates, migrants

The central government will do its utmost to stabilize the job market this year by continuing the employment-first policy, strengthening assistance to market entities and eliminating improper restrictions in the operation of the job market.

According to the annual Government Work Report, released on Saturday, it will prioritize the stability of the market and companies to help stabilize employment. Fiscal and financial policies will also be focused on boosting employment.

The government is targeting the creation of over 11 million new jobs in urban areas this year and looking to keep the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas under 5.5 percent, the work report said.

The work report also outlined some detailed measures to secure the operation of the job market.

For example, the Government will continue to reimburse companies for unemployment insurance and will lend greater policy support and assistance to key groups including college graduates, demobilized military personnel and migrant workers.

It will also continue to improve the social security and labor rights protection of the flexibly employed, and increase efforts to prevent gender discrimination and illegal behavior that infringe on workers’ rights.

The 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) unemployment insurance fund will continue to stabilize the job market and improve training to produce more high-quality workers for manufacturing industries.

“The domestic job market remains under great pressure this year due to the growing population of job seekers and the structural imbalance of the job market,” said Pang Shi, director of the department of employment and entrepreneurship at the Chinese Academy of Personnel Science. “The largest challenge for the government is to stabilize the market and employment in the face of an economic downturn.”

She said that the small and medium-sized companies and the self-employed businesses are facing difficulties in business operation that have reduced their ability to hire new workers.

“Only if the government stabilizes the market entities, can it have stable vacancies available to job seekers and keep domestic employment growing steadily,” Pang said. “It’s important for the government to reduce taxes and give the market entities more financial support, especially those that have been dealt a blow by the COVID-19 epidemic.

“It’s also necessary to eliminate any improper administrative restrictions on the job market’s operation and the development of startups.”

With employment a priority of the government’s work in the past few years, stabilizing the job market has become a buzzword in proposals by members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body.

Hu Wei, a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee who is also deputy director of the China Vocational Education Association in Shanghai, has focused on the employment of people aged over 35.

He told the Shanghai Observer recently that he has noticed the employment crisis faced by middle-aged people, who are the main forces for the nation’s development and social stability and who have also played a key role in supporting the third-child policy and taking care of the elderly.

He suggested the release of some preferential policies targeting those over 40 to prevent discrimination in hiring, promotion and layoffs.

Sun Jie, another member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, is most concerned about flexible employment and has submitted a proposal suggesting the nation tighten up on the management of platforms that offer flexible jobs without offering sound social security protection for the flexibly employed.

A researcher in opening-up at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, she said the nation should first clearly define the flexibly employed and then come up with a reasonable, tailored social security campaign for the group.

Soldiers of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force carry sandbags to reinforce banks in Wuhu, East China’s Anhui province, July 20, 2020. [Photo/IC]

President Xi Jinping has recently encouraged a group of armed police officers who carry out patrol duties on one of China’s busiest streets to always serve as the faithful guardian of the Communist Party of China and the people.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he hopes the officers will uphold the Party’s spirit and remain as “sentinels under the neon lamp” in the new era.

He made the remarks in a reply to a letter from members of the 10th Detachment of the Fourth Regiment under the People’s Armed Police Force’s Shanghai Corps.

The detachment’s officers had written a letter to Xi to tell him about their thoughts after learning the Party’s history, and the determination to fulfill Xi’s instructions and honor their duties.

In his reply, Xi said he was delighted that the officers could keep and promote the glorious traditions of the “Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road”, and persist in propagating the Party’s history and theories for over 20 years.

The “Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road” is a decorated unit of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force. It was once a security unit under the PLA Shanghai Garrison and began to patrol Nanjing Road, one of the most popular shopping venues in Shanghai, in 1949. In 1963, the company was given the honorary title due to the soldiers’ loyalty to the Party and their outstanding performance.

The 10th Detachment was founded in 1952. It took over patrol duties on Nanjing Road from the Eighth Company in 1982. The Eighth Company is now a special operations force and is still stationed in Shanghai.

Since 1998, officers from the 10th Detachment have joined voluntary narrators at the Site of the First National Congress of the CPC to spread knowledge about the Party’s history on weekends and holidays. So far, they have given more than 76,000 narration sessions for about 4.5 million visitors, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Yang Zenan, the detachment’s political instructor, said the venues in Shanghai have been functioning as vivid classrooms for armed police officers. Telling the Party’s history to more people also helps the officers better learn from the past and boost their confidence in the Party and the country’s future.

A 100-episode video program of the officers talking about the Party’s history has also been launched online and has attracted millions of views.

Buyers from several countries visit the cross-border offshore centralized procurement center established by OSell Group in Hefei, Anhui province. [Photo/China News Service]

HEFEI — The pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in East China’s Anhui province generated foreign trade of over 154 billion yuan ($24.3 billion) in 2021, accounting for 22.3 percent of the province’s total.

A total of 13,000 new enterprises had been established and 795 projects signed in Anhui’s pilot FTZ in 2021, with a combined contractual investment of 319.5 billion yuan, according to the administration office of the China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

“We will grasp the opportunities such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement to woo more investment and boost foreign trade this year,” Zhang Jian, head of the Anhui provincial department of commerce and director of the pilot FTZ’s administration office told a press conference on Thursday.

Established in September 2020 with three subzones in the cities of Hefei, Wuhu and Bengbu, the Anhui pilot FTZ has developed rapidly to become a high-level opening-up and development platform.

China unveiled its “No 1 central document” for 2022 on Tuesday, outlining key tasks to comprehensively push forward rural vitalization this year.

As the first policy statement released by China’s central authorities each year, the document is seen as an indicator of policy priorities. Work on agriculture and rural areas has been high on the agenda for 19 consecutive years since 2004.

The document called for efforts to stabilize and increase agricultural production, steadily raise farmers’ income, and ensure stability in China’s rural areas to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and other changes unseen in a century and promote sound economic and social development.

“We must firmly hold the bottom lines of guaranteeing China’s grain security and ensuring no large-scale return to poverty,” the document noted.

China will enhance grain production and the supply of vital agricultural products, it said.

Measures will be taken to ensure that the sown areas for grains remain stable and the full-year grain output stays above 650 billion kg.

Efforts will also enhance the production capacity of soybean and oil plants and ensure the supply of key products such as pork and vegetables, said the

The document detailed reasonable protection of farmers’ income from growing grains and coordinated regulation on major agricultural products.

In 2022, China aims to develop 6.67 million hectares of high-standard farmland, promote national projects on black soil protection, and launch the third nationwide soil condition census, noted the

It also specified measures to vigorously promote the research on vital agricultural core technologies such as germplasm, enhance applications of agriculture machinery and equipment, accelerate development of facility agriculture, and effectively prevent and respond to major agriculture-related disasters.

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council has released a plan for the development of the country’s elderly care services system during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), in its latest step to implement a national strategy to address population aging.

The plan specifies major goals and tasks for the five-year period, including expanding the supply of elderly care services, improving the health support mechanism for the elderly, and advancing the innovative and integrated development of service models.

It lists nine major indicators, such as the number of elderly care beds and the ratio of nursing care beds in elderly care institutions, to mobilize society as a whole to actively respond to population aging.

Detailed tasks include strengthening the safety net for elderly services, expanding inclusive services coverage, developing the silver economy, and safeguarding the legitimate interests of the aging population.

China will step up institutional innovation, and boost policy support and financial input to enable the elderly to share in China’s development achievements, according to the plan.

According to the latest census data, Chinese people aged 60 or above accounted for 18.7 percent of the country’s total population in 2020, 5.44 percentage points higher than in 2010.

With a solid material foundation, sufficient human resources and a long-standing culture of filial piety, China is confident in its ability to solve its aging population issue, the plan notes.

It also underlines the development of the “silver economy,” which, according to a government official, requires the country to provide “equal, attainable services and products for seniors with particular difficulties.”

The country should give full play to both state and social capital in expanding the domestic market, and create systematic, integrated policies to ensure the sound and sustainable development of the silver economy, the official said.

China also plans to establish about 10 industrial parks dedicated to the silver economy and build a string of cities into models in this regard, the official said, stressing that facilities to be used for elderly care will be prioritized in the construction layout.

At least 55 percent of the funds raised by the country’s welfare lottery will be used to support elderly care services from 2022, and elderly care institutions are encouraged to explore further approaches to financing, the official said.

In order to provide better services for foreign experts in Wuhu, solve their problems, and ensure that they live and work in Wuhu without worries, in addition to policy and financial support, life service is also meticulous. On February 15, the reporter learned from Wuhu Municipal Talents Office that Wuhu Municipal Health Commission recently appointed six hospitals in Wuhu to provide medical services for foreign experts.

It is reported that the six hospitals are The First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu No.1 People’s Hospital, The Second People’s Hospital of Wuhu, The Fifth People’s Hospital of Wuhu and Wuhu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In order to avoid the difficulties of foreign experts due to language barriers, the six hospitals should arrange a staff with a higher foreign language level in the corresponding departments of high-level talents medical service. Foreign experts should be pre-checked and triaged immediately when making an appointment and should be accompanied by translators throughout the whole journey. At the same time, hospitals should select some clinical experts with high foreign language proficiency, who can have direct dialogue with foreign experts in the process of treatment. It is suggested that qualified hospitals explore the development of international medical services according to the scale of the foreign medical market in Wuhu.

In addition, staff of all nucleic acid detection institutions will take the initiative to inform foreigners that they can use passport and foreigner’s residence permit to apply for health code when receiving them to collect the nucleic acid. At the same time, they are supposed to check and ensure that the name and id type and number of foreigners registered on the APP Anhui Big Data Center are consistent with the name and ID number registered when doing nucleic acid testing records, so that the results can be queried. Besides, it is necessary to provide nucleic acid test reports in English for foreigners and those with relevant needs. For foreign experts who need a standard electronic version of the report, the hospitals will send the electronic version to their mailbox.

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

On the morning of February 8th, the production of Chery’s first global car OMODA 5 was completed at the second assembly workshop in Wuhu. “OMODA 5” is Chery’s first model completely developed according to international high-end market demand, and also represents Chery’s product development with “user thinking + Internet thinking” and innovative business model. OMODA 5 is scheduled to debut in overseas markets in the first half of this year.

The OMODA 5 will be released in 30 countries including Russia, South Africa and Chile, and will be exported to new overseas markets including the European Union, Australia and New Zealand.

Up to now, automotive products of Chery Group have been recognized by more than 10 million global users. As the first masterpiece of Chery’s OMODA series, “OMODA 5” will be the prelude to the launch of Chery’s new round of young products, and will bring new travel experience to young people around the world with Chery’s most cutting-edge technology and design.

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

It is learned from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government that economic indicators of the municipal state-owned enterprises grew steadily in 2021. In the whole year, the total revenue of the municipal state-owned enterprises reached 53.967 billion yuan, up 46.83% year-on-year, and the total profits achieved 808 million yuan, up 18.95% year-on-year.

The state-owned capital has been greatly increased. By the end of last year, the total assets of the municipal state-owned enterprises reached 257.998 billion yuan, and the total net assets were 109.001 billion yuan, up 8.65% and 4.66% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, the reform of state-owned enterprises has been implemented in depth, and the construction of major projects has been accelerated. At present, 93.24% of the 74 tasks specified in the “Three-Year Action Plan for the Reform of State-owned Enterprises” have been completed. The city has also integrated 29 municipal state-owned enterprises into nine, reorganized the municipal Construction Investment Co., Ltd, established Wuhu State Owned Capital Investment & Operation Co., Ltd and the Zhongjiang Urban Construction Group, and created the main platform for state-owned capital investment and operation, state-owned assets management and urban infrastructure investment. In addition, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport was opened to traffic smoothly, Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 were put into operation, and the construction of the Chengnan River Crossing Tunnel was started as well. All these major projects are making contributions to the high-quality development of Wuhu.

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

A few days ago, 16 cities of Anhui released their economic reports in 2021. In terms of economic growth, 11 cities of the province “outperformed” the province’s economic growth of 8.3 percent, among which Wuhu, Lu’an, Chizhou and Xuancheng achieved double-digit growth. It is worth mentioning that Wuhu ranks first among 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region with the economic growth at 11.6 percent.

According to the data released by the press conference on the economic development of Wuhu in 2021, and the unified accounting results of the regional GDP, Wuhu’s GDP reached 430.263 billion yuan last year, an increase of 11.6 percent over the previous year, and its GDP growth ranked first in the province. In terms of industries, the added value of the primary industry was 16.958 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4 percent over the previous year, with the secondary industry reaching 204.896 billion yuan, an increase of 11.9 percent, and the tertiary industry reaching 208.409 billion yuan, an increase of 11.7 percent.

In 2021, with the help of the measures launched by Wuhu municipal government, namely, “Investment Attraction and Talents Recruitment” and “1% Work Law”, the city’s economic growth ranked first again in the province after six years, and other leading economic indicators grew faster than the average level of the whole province. For instance, the growth of the total output value of the construction industry ranked first in the province, with the total retail sales of social consumer goods ranking second, the per capita disposable income of residents and private investment ranking third, the output value of strategic emerging industries, and technological upgrading investment ranking fourth, and the added value of large-scale industries ranking fifth.

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

Editor’s note: China has overcome many odds to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Two experts and a China Daily writer analyze China’s achievements in sports, and propose measures it needs to take to further promote sports, especially winter sports, in the country.

The opening ceremony of an Olympic Games, be it the Summer or Winter Games, is normally an extraordinary, intricately choreographed extravaganza, which attracts hundreds of millions of viewers on television across the world. It is also a spectacle, a majestic show, through which the host nation showcases its culture, history, traditions, and socioeconomic achievements.

The message of the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games was peace, which was conveyed through the flying apsaras, the moving types, the Chinese paper scroll, the ancient Chinese drums, the Olympic rings and the colorful fireworks.

But the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on the evening of Feb 4 was different, yet splendid. The audiences were treated to a pared down ceremony, without the large-scale artistic performances that marked the 2008 opening ceremony, but it was no less symbolic－symbolic of a shared future for humankind.

In a bid to hold a simple, safe and yet spectacular Winter Games, the opening ceremony on Friday was not lengthy or marked with a large-scale performance. Even the number of performers－about 15,000 in 2008－was down to 3,000, and the duration of the ceremony was reduced to about 100 minutes because of the cold weather and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Olympic cauldron at the snowflake-themed ceremony was small, but the flames conveyed significant messages of greener Olympic Games.

The use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine vision, 5G and cloud broadcasting added to the novelty of the opening ceremony. The performances, carrying forward the theme of global peace and shared future for humankind, focused on environmental protection, and human health and physical fitness, highlighting the importance of sports in instilling new confidence in the international community to contain the pandemic.

Through Friday’s opening ceremony, people could clearly see China’s pursuit of building a peaceful world, its reflection of the new Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger－Together” and the Beijing Winter Games’ motto of “Together for a Shared Future”.

By reducing the duration of the opening ceremony, China has adhered to the concept of “Green, Inclusive, Open and Clean” Beijing Winter Olympics. That the reduced duration also lowered the cost was an added bonus.

To reduce the carbon footprint of the Winter Games, all the Olympic venues are being run on clean energy－and after the Games, they will be open for the public all year round and will stage high-level winter sports events. Also, during the preparations for the Games, all the work was done in an environmentally friendly manner. For example, about 70 percent of the materials used in the Games have been obtained through lease, including new sporting equipment, furniture in the Olympic village, technical devices, even bed sheets and quilt covers.

In line with Beijing 2022’s concept of hosting a green Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the medal podiums are made of recyclable and environmentally friendly materials. Hand-knitted bouquets, rather than real flowers, will be presented to the winners. The cashmere bouquets, in fact, will not only look like the real bouquets even after years but also honor the concept of sustainability.

More important, thrift, a traditional Chinese virtue, can help build a healthy social environment for China to realize its targets of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. All this make the 2022 Winter Games an important Olympics to focus on achieving carbon neutrality.

For China, holding a simple, safe and yet spectacular opening ceremony is not just a slogan, it’s a philosophy, a way of life in the true sense of term.