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China's robotaxi is seeing an order surge in the megacity of Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. Daily peak orders are reportedly exceeding 20 per vehicle, catching up to the volume of those from a traditional taxi, multiple media outlets reported, citing "Hubei Release," an account affiliated with the local government's news center.

China’s effort to restore green coverage yields remarkable results   After decades of relentless efforts, China has made significant progress in advancing afforestation programs to address desertification and contribute to global ecological restoration.   Since 2012, a total of 20.33 million hectares of desertified land have been rehabilitated, amounting to 53 percent of all the reversable desertified land in the country.   Between 2012-2022, China's accumulative afforestation area reached 960 million mu (64 million hectares). Additionally, 165 million mu of grassland was improved, and more than 12 million mu of wetlands were added or restored.   From 2009 to 2019, desertified land experienced a net decrease of 50,000 square kilometers, while sandy land saw a net decrease of 43,300 square kilometers.   It is estimated that about 15 million people in the areas under the program have been lifted out of poverty by developing forestry and fruit growing industries. #DeepeningReform  

#China is recording an increase in patents and trademarks granted to foreigners, according to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).   The number of effective invention patents owned by foreign applicants in China exceeded 900,000 last year, an annual increase of nearly 5 percent. The trademark sector has witnessed a similar trend, with the number of valid trademark registrations by foreign applicants in China surpassing 2.1 million, up 3.4 percent year on year.   The growth reflects the confidence of foreign enterprises in China's intellectual property (IP) protection, said Shen Changyu, head of the CNIPA, during a recent symposium attended by 11 foreign-funded enterprises, including AstraZeneca, Ford Motor, LEGO, and Tesla on July 9.   China leads the world in patent applications and is making strides towards becoming an IP power. A recent blueprint for establishing an IP protection system represents the country's latest step in this endeavor.   It was formulated by the CNIPA and eight other authorities, and proposes measures in several areas, such as policy standards, law enforcement and talent cultivation.   According to the CNIPA, the blueprint serves as a roadmap for IP development until 2035, the deadline year for China to modernize and strengthen its IP protection system.   It also highlights efforts to enhance IP protection rules in new fields and emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, gene technology and livestreaming.   China has made significant improvements in the efficiency of its patent examination process in recent years. According to data released by the CNIPA, the review time last year was reduced to just 16 months, shorter than in the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea.   The new plan aims to further expedite the examination process for invention patents, cutting it to 15 months by 2025.   The country has already established numerous fast IP service centers nationwide, serving over 150,000 enterprises. According to the plan, more efforts will be dedicated to expanding coverage. #DeepeningReform

Sitting at 3,700 meters above sea level, Basum Tso Lake is one of the largest among over 1,000 lakes in southwest #China's #Xizang Autonomous Region. For ages, the lake has been famous for its turquoise-colored water. Miraculously, the lake water manifests different colors with the change of seasons. The lake covers an area of 25 square kilometers, with an average depth of 60 meters. Between the forest and vales, the meltwater of glaciers streams down the ravines ceaselessly into the lake, offering a perfect sanctuary for migratory bird species. Check out the breathtaking views there.

#China has made remarkable progress in improving the living conditions in rural areas, data from the country's agricultural ministry shows.   The country stepped up efforts to strengthen the weak links in public infrastructure in 2023. Over 73 percent of China's rural households have gained access to sanitary toilets, the rural residential sewage treatment rate stands at over 40 percent, and clean-up campaigns have been launched in over 95 percent of villages. Additionally, over 90 percent of villages in China are serviced by household waste disposal solutions. Further efforts will also be made to fulfil the practical demands of rural residents and provide inclusive public services.   China achieved its poverty alleviation targets at the end of 2020, whereby 98.99 million rural people living under the poverty line of about $1 per day were taken out of poverty and 832 poverty-stricken counties as well as 128,000 villages were removed from the poverty list. #DeepeningReform

In southeastern #China, one can often find intricate porcelain statues adorning the roofs of temples and other important buildings. This folk art form of inlaid porcelain involves breaking bowls and plates on purpose and then gluing the pieces together to create visually stunning mosaics.

China’s efforts to foster the deep integration of digital technology with the real economy over the past decade have achieved encouraging results. The value-added output of core industries in the digital economy reached 10 percent of China's total gross domestic product in 2023, according to the latest report on the development of Digital China released by the National Data Administration. The value of China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry has exceeded 3.2 trillion yuan (about 450 billion U.S. dollars). For three consecutive years, China has launched smart manufacturing pilot projects, building 421 national-level demonstration factories along with over 10,000 provincial-level digital workshops and smart factories. Technologies such as artificial intelligence have been applied in more than 90 percent of the demonstration plants. 5G has been promoted on a large scale in quality inspection, mining production and other fields. The Industrial Internet now spans all major sectors, with over 200 application examples established. The flourishing digital economy in various fields has led to a strong demand for digital talents, setting up a broad stage for career development. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security estimated that a gap requiring about 25 million to 30 million digitalization professionals needs to be filled to meet the demand of China's digital economy. #DeepeningReform

#China's urban residential communities have strengthened efforts in garbage sorting as it is becoming a new fashion for leading a green and low-carbon life in the country.   Among the country's urban residential communities at and above the prefecture level, 92.6 percent have implemented garbage sorting, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.   Some 46 key cities have taken the lead in establishing relatively complete systems for garbage classification, collection, transportation and treatment, the ministry said at a national work conference on garbage sorting.   At present, 21 provincial-level regions and 173 cities in China have introduced local rules and regulations on garbage sorting, said Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development.   In the next stage, more efforts should be made to explore simple and easy classification patterns for different regions and continuously expand the coverage of the garbage sorting mechanism, Ni added.   The work conference has also stressed improving the treatment of construction wastes, urging efforts to resolutely curb illegal dumping and set up disposal points for residential decoration wastes. #DeepeningReform

China has established 22 free-trade zones (FTZs) since 2013, when the first one was set up in east China’s Shanghai. From coastal areas to central inland regions and border provinces, these FTZs have been setting the pace for China’s high-quality reform and opening up. The total volume of foreign trade at the 22 FTZs rose 11.7 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, with the FTZs in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Hebei posting a growth of over 30 percent and the one in Hainan going up by over 20 percent, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. In late March, China also rolled out national and pilot FTZ versions of the negative list for cross-border trade in services to boost opening up. It is the first time that China has formulated a negative list for cross-border trade in services at the national level, containing 71 items. The pilot FTZ version of the negative list contains 68 items, covering fields such as occupational qualifications of natural persons, professional services, finance and culture. Such measures are aimed at aligning China with international economic and trade rules and boosting institutional opening up. #DeepeningReform

China has released a list of healthcare reform tasks for 2024, including measures related to public healthcare services, the development of public hospitals, and reform in relation to medicine. At a national conference on China's health development and deepening healthcare reform that ended in late June, policymakers and practitioners discussed topics including public hospital reforms, medicine supply and medical insurance. The country will continue enhancing its public healthcare service capacity at the primary level, deepen reform of the payment system at public hospitals, and improve its healthcare insurance systems to better meet people's needs and reduce their medical costs, according to the document. This year's reform will also give more weight to matters such as medical technological progress, multi-tiered diagnosis and treatment, and digitalized services, said Zhu Hongbiao, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC), at the conference. Tackling high medical expenditure has been an important part of China's medical and healthcare reform. To that end, China has launched nine rounds of bulk drug procurement programs since 2018 and gradually expanded the price reform of medical services. It is expected that the bulk purchase program will cover 500 medications this year, and pilot price reforms of medical services will be carried out in three provincial-level regions. Various reforms to optimize hospital services launched over the past decade have also achieved notable results. Long wait times for registration, medical examinations and settling hospital bills were once common grievances among patients. However, recent reforms have resulted in a remarkable transformation. According to the NHC, over 5,500 comprehensive hospitals now provide "one-stop" services, enabling 77.7 percent of hospitalized patients to settle their bills on the day of discharge. Furthermore, mutual recognition of medical examination results has been achieved in most public hospitals, reducing the need for repetitive tests at different facilities. Empowered by the internet, over 3,000 medical institutions in China offer medical and nursing services online for those unable to visit in person, data from the NHC revealed. #DeepeningReform