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    On November 9, at the invitation of the Municipal Talents Development Group and Wuhu Xinke New Materials Co., Ltd., more than 30 fresh graduates from the School of Electrical Engineering of Tongling University came to Xinke for a visit and exchange, and 27 of them signed employment agreements with the enterprise on the spot, becoming the new “dream makers” in Wuhu.

    On the same day, graduates had a detailed understanding of the development history and corporate culture of the enterprise, and went to various production units to learn about the product research and development achievements and manufacturing processes. On site, the staff of the Municipal Talents Development Group introduced and promoted “Chinese Milk Vetch Talents Plan” in Wuhu, focusing on the detailed explanation of talents policies concerning the employment, housing and rental of graduates from colleges and universities in Wuhu. The careful and thorough arrangement has enhanced the young talents’ understanding of Wuhu and strengthened their determination to stay in Wuhu. The fresh graduates who signed employment agreements will start to work next week.

    Since the beginning of this year, in order to introduce more talents and attract them to stay in Wuhu, the city has spared no effort to launch the “Chinese Milk Vetch Talents Plan” and taken the lead to establish Talents Development Group in the province. In addition, main officials of the Municipal Party Committee sent invitations to college students through the public class in the new semester, and set up Wuhu university alliance for talents development cooperation, helping match 10,000 college students with 100 enterprises to express Wuhu’s sincerity of loving, cherishing and respecting talents with practical actions.

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

A statue of Jinbao, the panda mascot of the China International Import Expo, is seen in Shanghai, on Oct 29, 2021. [Photo/IC]

    It was exciting to have been in Shanghai for the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November 2018. The initiative had been announced at the 2017 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. It launched under the motto “New Era, Shared Future” at a time when President Trump’s “America First Policy” was threatening the benefits of globalization. The CIIE was such a success that it was then established as an annual event. The second edition in 2019 saw even larger attendance at this trade show, but also the establishment of an ongoing shopping pavilion nearby in Shanghai’s Hongqiao area, where many foreign exhibitors set up shops to supply their imports to the public.

    The fourth edition is underway from Nov 5 to 10, and it is timely as it both demonstrates China’s strong economic growth to the benefit of the global economy and the country’s continuing commitment to multilateralism. President Xi, in addressing the opening ceremony online, encapsulated the goals with an inspirational saying: “Let the breeze of openness bring warmth to the world”. Indeed the world has been facing the chill of the economic downturn and fretting about the disruptions to supply chains that the global pandemic has brought.

    This is not the time to turn away from the lasting benefits that globalization offers. The ability to source products on a global basis has made a major ongoing contribution to the low consumer price inflation in developed economies and many of these products have been supplied by China. Recently, consumers in Western economies have seen how supply shortages have led to inflation and tested the resilience of global supply chains. This should be a wake-up call on the need to restore open economic exchanges and build back better supply chains for the future rather than look inward for solutions.

    China has played a big part, showing that its economic growth creates many opportunities to sell into China, facilitated by an ever-shortening negative list of restricted areas. President Xi highlighted key elements: the contribution of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the further development of pilot free trade zones, China’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the expansion of foreign investment including the finalizing of the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. These are concrete examples of China’s commitment in both words and deeds.

    There has been a steady decline in the World Openness Index over the last 10 years and in the global consensus on opening-up. World Bank reports show that trade as a percentage of world GDP was just over 60 percent in 2011 and had declined to a bit over 56 percent by 2019 and to around 52 percent by 2020. This trend was underway before the pandemic but has accelerated since then. Undoubtedly, the growth of protectionism has contributed to this decline.

    China’s own direction reflects the opposite in the 20 years since it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2001, China was the sixth largest economy and has grown to become the second largest. It was also then sixth in trade in goods and is now first, and has also jumped from 11th to second in trade in services. Remarkably, China’s outbound investment has risen from 26th to first in that time. These indicators show the value of win-win cooperation rather than the zero sum approach of some Western nations.

    The WTO needs to reform in an era where the developing world demands strong representation. President Xi confirmed China’s support for the inclusive development of the multilateral trading regime that reflects the legitimate rights and interests of the developing members within an international rules-based setting. Of equal importance is how President Xi pledged to help safeguard the stability of global industrial supply chains. This is a major issue as the world advances technologically while we see shortages of microchips, concerns over energy stability and logjams of cargo at ports.

    For a country to support multilateralism, it needs to engage with many partners in well-functioning associations and organizations. China is committed to taking an active part in cooperation within the UN, the WTO, the G20, APEC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other institutions. This includes important issues of global reach such as the digital economy, distribution and trade in vaccines, and key medical supplies and measures to tackle climate change with green and low-carbon development. These are very clear examples of challenges which require global cooperation to solve. China has clearly stated its commitment to a multilateral world for common prosperity.

Reporters learned that recently, the preliminary design review of Tongling to Shangcheng Expressway Wuwei (Ta Qiao) to Chaohu (Mu Ji) section was held in Hefei. The conference invited experts from relevant units of the industry to participate in the review, Provincial Department of Transportation, Anhui Transportation Holding Group, the relevant departments of the cities and counties along the line, and the relevant persons of the design units attended the conference.

The preliminary design review was successfully passed, indicating the successful completion of the preliminary design phase of the project, which was another important milestone and laid a solid foundation for the upcoming construction documents design phase and related construction bidding work.

It is reported that the project is a section of the highway from Tongling to Shangcheng, Henan Province, an important part of the “five vertical and ten horizontal” highway network in our province. The total length of the road section is 27.456 km, including 19.81 km in Wuwei, Wuhu and 7.646 km in Chaohu, Hefei. It will be built in accordance with the standard construction of two-way six lanes, with a design speed of 120 km/h and a roadbed width of 34.5 meters. The project, with a total investment of 4.946 billion yuan, is jointly funded by Anhui Investment Group, Wuhu Municipal Government and Hefei Municipal Government, which is scheduled to start construction by the end of this year.

After the completion of the project, it will become the second high-speed channel connecting Hefei and Wuhu, giving full play to the role of Tongling Yangtze River rail-highway bridge, greatly relieving the pressure of crossing the river, and further improving the regional expressway network.

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

    HEFEI — The city of Wuhu in East China’s Anhui province officially unveiled its first monorail line on Wednesday amid efforts to build a green transportation system in the city.

    The monorail line 1 operates in a north-south direction covering a total distance of 30.5 kilometers with 25 elevated stations. Trains plying on the line can travel at a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour.

    Construction of this monorail started in 2017, with a total project investment of more than 8 billion yuan (about $1.25 billion), according to local authorities.

    Monorail is a railway system in which trains travel along a track consisting of one rail. Compared with metros, monorails are cheaper to build and have a medium capacity which is perfect for a medium-sized city like Wuhu. Monorails are a highly-efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative to metros.

The city of Wuhu in East China’s Anhui province officially unveils its first monorail line on Nov 3, 2021. [Photo/people.com.cn]

    Chinese home appliances giant Midea Group has announced a green strategy by building a global environmentally-friendly supply chain and developing energy-saving products and services to achieve peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, according to the company.

    ”The green strategy is an important part of the company’s sustainable development plan,” said Li Guolin, vice-president of Midea Group.

    The company would increase use of green electricity to help mitigate of greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon reduction gradually by 2040, according to Li.

    ”We would push forward the green strategy in the process of design, supply, manufacturing, logistics, recycling and service,” said Li.

    The total energy consumption of Midea’s plant in Wuhu, Anhui province, was reduced by 5.4 percent in the first half of 2021, equivalent to saving 21,000 kWh per day, following its intelligent upgrading of equipment facilities, processing and production lines in December 2018.

    ”The green development model including digital, smart and energy-saving facilities have been promoted to 16 air conditioner, washing machine and refrigerator plants,” said Li.

Recently, Wuhu Municipal Government signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement for the new science and technology materials project with Zoomlion. Zhan Chunxin, Chairman and CEO of Zoomlion, Shan Xiangqian, Secretary of CPC Wuhu Municipal Community, and Ningbo, Deputy Secretary of CPC Wuhu Municipal Community and Mayor attended and witnessed the signing ceremony. Municipal leader Zhang Zhihong and secretary general of the municipal government Wang Zhipeng were present at the meeting.

    Zoomlion New Materials Project in Wuhu is located in Sanshan Economic Development Zone, with a planned land area of 30 hectares and an estimated total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. The project will build the world’s leading technical mortar production line, promote mechanized construction and upgrading of the construction industry, strength the use of gypsum, slag and other industrial by-products instead of cement and other high energy consumption raw materials and reduce the total energy consumption of products. It also plans to build production lines for new building waterproof materials and building heat preservation and energy-saving decorative materials to promote energy conservation and consumption reduction.

It is understood that the project takes high efficiency, energy saving and intelligent manufacturing as the concept for design and operation, and strives to build the world’s most advanced manufacturing enterprise in the area of new functional building materials so as to speed up the upgrading of new materials industry in Wuhu and contribute to the national strategy of ” carbon peak and neutrality”.

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

It was recently learned from Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport Investment and Construction Co., Ltd. that starting from the end of this month, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport will officially implement the winter and spring flights and open multiple routes.

According to the new flight plan, starting from October 31, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport will successively open five flight routes, including, Qingdao, Zhuhai, Harbin, Sanya, and Xishuangbanna, which will be operated by Donghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Lucky Air. Qingdao and Xishuangbanna routes are operated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while Zhuhai, Harbin and Sanya routes are operated on a daily basis.

Up to now, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport has opened 11 routes to Daxing District in Beijing, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shuangliu District in Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, Kunming, Changchun, Shenzhen (2 routes) and Tianjin. Flight routes to Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, cities in Pearl River Delta and major cities in western China are connected. According to the Airport, in the future, new flight routes will be opened in due course based on the big data analysis of travel and the needs of economic development to facilitate the travel of people in Wuhu and Xuancheng.

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

It was recently learned from Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport Investment and Construction Co., Ltd. that starting from the end of this month, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport will officially implement the winter and spring flights and add multiple routes.

According to the new flight plan, starting from October 31, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport will successively add five flight routes, including, Qingdao, Zhuhai, Harbin, Sanya, and Xishuangbanna, which will be operated by Donghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Lucky Air. Qingdao and Xishuangbanna routes are operated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while Zhuhai, Harbin and Sanya routes are operated on a daily basis.

Up to now, Wuhu-Xuanzhou Airport has opened 11 routes to Daxing District in Beijing, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shuangliu District in Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, Kunming, Changchun, Shenzhen (2 routes) and Tianjin. Flight routes to Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, cities in Pearl River Delta and major cities in western China are connected. According to the Airport, in the future, new flight routes will be opened in due course based on the big data analysis of travel and the needs of economic development to facilitate the travel of people in Wuhu and Xuancheng.

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

On the morning of October 9, the “2021 (2nd) Seminar on the Protection and Development of Wuhu Iron Painting” was held in the hall of Tieshan Hotel in the city to summarize the achievements made in the protection and development of Wuhu iron painting in the past five years since the issue of the Regulations on the Protection and Development of Wuhu Iron Painting, analyze the existing problems and difficulties, and clarify the overall ideas for the protection, preservation, innovation and development of Wuhu iron painting in the next few years.

The seminar was hosted by the Wuhu Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Wuhu Cultural Centre (Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center) and organized by Wuhu Iron Painting Association. Nearly 100 representatives in the city, including well-known painters, experts and scholars in culture and history and intangible cultural heritage, heads of related companies in this industry, inheritors of forging skills, and iron painting craftsmen attended the seminar. The representatives discussed how to further implement the Regulations on the Protection and Development of Wuhu Iron Painting and how to make it well-known in the Yangtze River Delta, the country, and the whole world. In the seminar, the atmosphere was very active. The experts called for strengthening the protection of Wuhu iron painting forging skills, carrying out researches on the art, culture and history of the painting, so that the traditional forging skills can be passed on in a living status.

It is learned that in the five years since the issue of the Regulations on the Protection and Development of Wuhu Iron Painting, Wuhu Municipal Finance Bureau has set up a “Special Fund for the Protection and Development of Wuhu Iron Painting” with an annual amount of 500,000 yuan.

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