中国日报假期版
中国日报
2026年10月7日，星期三
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周一，在浙江省安吉县，游客们在灯笼点亮的景区欣赏夜晚景色。灯笼形状各异，色彩多样。潘学康 / 新华社
China Daily - 07.10.2026 — 2026-10-07
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🧭 今日主编程控导读：聚焦「三国在威胁增加之际加强联合防御」、「联合国秘书长呼吁加沙实现永久停火」等核心政经议题
今日《China Daily - 07.10.2026》全报共收录 56 篇核心报道。在政经治理、法理制度与公共政策层面，版面重心聚焦于：**三国在威胁增加之际加强联合防御**（沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦、土耳其承诺在胡塞武装袭击期间迅速调动部队）；**联合国秘书长呼吁加沙实现永久停火**（联合国——在2023年10月7日袭击事件三周年纪念日到来之前，联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在周一呼吁在加沙实现永久停火...）；**中国谴责毫无根据、虚假的人权指责**（专家称，选择性批评暴露了西方国家的双重标准）。 在本土文化与城市记忆方面，今日重点关注**「中国设计在洛杉矶博物馆呈现新形态」**。
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🎭 本期时代思潮与社会文化雷达
🎭 当代文化观察
《China Daily - 07.10.2026》本期社会思潮与时代切片
本期特写报道深入探索社会结构转型与文化心态变迁，详见【📖 双语精读】各专题深度报道。
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假期出行彰显中国交通实力
周二，在全国交通枢纽迎来客流高峰之际，一名年轻乘客在四川省乐山火车站准备出发。李华实 / 中国日报
对于居住在中国西北陕西省安康市的张洋及其家人来说，今年的国庆假期令人难忘。10月1日，随着西安-安康高铁的开通，他们乘坐直达高铁从安康前往以革命历史闻名的城市——延安。
这段旅程曾经需要7小时以上，现在仅需2小时多。
在10月1日至7日的国庆假期期间，张洋一家成为了数百万流动人口中的一员，而这一时期是中国旅游和消费的最高峰之一。
交通运输部的数据显示，假期前三天，每日跨区域客运量均超过3 亿人次。中国国家铁路集团有限公司表示，10月1日单日铁路客运量超过2520 万人次，创下单日新高。
对于中国这样一个幅员辽阔的国家，在假期高峰期间运送数亿人是一项规模宏大的壮举。这一壮举的背后是数十年来构建的交通网络。
到2025年底，中国的综合交通网络总里程超过600 万公里，其中包括全球规模最大的高铁网络。高铁、高速公路、机场和港口将全国的城市、城镇和农村地区连接在一起。
该网络仍在持续扩张。9月28日，中国在北部、西北部、中部和东北部开通了四段主要高铁区间，总长度超过1,100公里。
新线路缩短了旅时，使像张洋一家这样的家庭能够更便捷地抵达更多目的地。
中国的交通发展不仅限于更快的旅程。更好的配套服务也让出行变得更加便捷。
新能源汽车在中国家庭中日益普及，现已成为长途旅行的热门选择。交通运输部预计，假期期间高速公路上的新能源汽车出行量将达到平时水平的1.8倍，从而推高对充电服务的需求。
中国广泛的充电基础设施正助力满足这一增长的需求。目前，中国拥有超过2400 万个电动汽车充电设施，构成了全球最大的电动汽车充电网络。高速公路服务区共有约89,000个充电设施，几乎覆盖了所有服务区。
为了应对假期高峰，关键服务区增加了移动应急充电设备，同时鼓励驾驶员在电池充电至80%后即离开，以提高周转率。
更快捷的连接和更便捷的服务使旅行者在单次行程中访问更多目的地变得更加容易。在线旅游平台Qunar的数据显示，近30%的旅行者预订了至少两个城市的酒店，而涉及四个或更多城市住宿的预订量同比增长53%。
这一趋势已延伸至中国国境之外。中国不断扩大的交通连接正支持跨境旅游的增长，中国航空公司运营的定期国际客运航线已连接80个国家的177个城市。
承载数百万旅行者的交通网络同时也确保了货物的流动，将企业与市场联系起来，维持着全国的经济活动。
即便在假期期间，位于中国南部广西壮族自治区南宁港的柳井作业区依然繁忙，船鸣声此起彼伏，工人正忙于装卸货物。
货运量的增加与平陆运河的开通密切相关。平陆运河从广西横州延伸至北部湾，全长134.2公里，于9月16日正式通航，为中国西南地区的货物前往国际市场提供了一条更短的河海联运航线。
包括建筑材料、汽车零部件和粮食在内的散货正通过平陆运河从南宁港运往北部湾出口。目前，该航线平均每天增加处理20,000吨货物。
“我们预计在国庆假期期间将运输200,000吨货物，”南宁港发展投资有限公司生产运行中心副经理尤同表示。
新华社
冲绳谋杀案逮捕引发对美军基地的愤怒
作者：侯俊杰（HOU JUNJIE），发自东京
houjunjie@chinadaily.com.cn
一名美国军人在日本冲绳因涉嫌谋杀被捕，再次引发了日本公众的愤怒与不信任。
一些人认为，《美日地位协定》（US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement）实际上赋予了美国一定程度的治外法权特权。
他们呼吁重新评估首相加强日美军事同盟的努力，以及此类举措给冲绳带来的日益沉重的负担，因为冲绳承载了日本境内绝大多数的美国军事设施。
周日，冲绳县警方在一家美国军事基地外逮捕了美国海军陆战队员德文·雅各布·巴拉德（Devin Jacob Ballard），他涉嫌在周六凌晨于一家酒店抢劫并谋杀一名当地女性。
据共同社报道，巴拉德否认了相关指控。
首相在周一的政策演说开始时对该事件表示遗憾，并呼吁美方全力配合调查，加强纪律，并采取措施防止此类事件在未来再次发生。
冲绳县知事古田元太（Genta Koja）也在同一天向美军提出抗议。
然而，据媒体报道，美方并未就该事件道歉，称在巴拉德否认指控且案件事实尚未查明的情况下，无法做出道歉。
东京法政大学教授白鸟宏（Hiroshi Shiratori）表示，《美日地位协定》中在某种意义上赋予美方治外法权特权的条款，仍然是解决此类问题的主要障碍。
根据该协定，如果涉嫌犯罪的美国军人已被美方拘留，美方将保留拘留权，直到日本正式起诉嫌疑人。如果日本当局将嫌疑人拘留（如本案所示），则嫌疑人由日方拘留。
白鸟表示，过去采取的措施——包括加强纪律、限制基地外活动和加强巡逻——几乎没有产生实质性效果。
日本外相茂木敏充（Toshimitsu Motegi）和防卫相小泉进次郎（Shinjiro Koizumi）分别于周日向美方提出抗议。
据日本外务省称，美国驻日大使乔治·格拉斯（George Glass）表示，美国将全力配合调查，并尽一切努力防止再次发生。
社会民主党党首福岛瑞穗（Mizuho Fukushima）表示，仅靠加强纪律无法解决问题。她认为，日本政府多年来未能推动修订《美日地位协定》，也应承担政治责任。
白鸟表示，军事同盟往往导致日本政府只能满足于提出口头抗议，而无法采取根本性措施来解决问题。
白鸟认为，首相及其他内阁成员提出的抗议，在某种意义上可以被视为在即将召开的国会特别会议之前，试图巩固公众对政府支持的一种尝试。
周末，冲绳和东京举行了抗议活动，参与者呼吁日本政府针对涉及美军人员的重复性事件采取行动，减轻冲绳不成比例的基地负担，并将美国军事基地从该县撤走。
详见第 2 页“逮捕”报道
中国AI模型国际采用率激增
从赢得关注转向通过全球主要平台销售，此举获得赞赏
作者：CHENG YU, TAN GUOLING
总部位于美国的云计算巨头亚马逊云科技（Amazon Web Services, AWS）周二表示，已在 Amazon Bedrock 平台上提供中国 Z.ai 的最新旗舰模型 GLM-5.3；同时，知情人士证实，AWS 将根据该模型的使用情况与 Z.ai 分成。
行业专家表示，此举凸显了中国人工智能模型在全球扩张中的一个更广泛的转变：从在海外开发者中赢得关注，转向获得实际应用，并越来越多地通过主要的国际商业平台进行销售。
Z. 并非孤例。AWS 已将包括 DeepSeek V3.2、MiniMax M2.1 和阿里巴巴 Qwen3 Coder Next 在内的六款中国开源权重模型添加到 Amazon Bedrock 平台。9 月，月之暗面（Moonshot）的 Kimi K3 也上线了 Amazon Bedrock。
北京社会科学院研究员王鹏表示，这种转变意味着每一次真实的海外模型调用现在都能转化为商业收入。
王鹏表示，在云端收入分成模式下，开源模型有助于构建开发者生态系统，全球云计算公司提供计算基础设施并对接企业客户，而模型开发商则在客户实际使用其模型时获得一部分收入。
“一年前，中国模型的海外扩张在很大程度上是为了让外国开发者使用。现在，一个日益清晰的转变正在发生：海外商业平台开始积极地销售这些模型，”王鹏说。
模型聚合平台 OpenRouter 的最新数据显示，在截至周日的这一周内，中国模型处理了约 57.46 万亿个 token，而美国模型处理了约 16.2 万亿个 token。
这是中国模型在该平台上连续第 23 周在周 token 使用量上高于美国模型。仅 DeepSeek 一家就占 OpenRouter 最新完整周文本请求量的 21.8%，而 Z. 和 Qwen 也是其最大的模型提供商之一。
另一个指标来自全球最大的开源 社区 Hugging Face。其报告显示，在过去一年中，中国开发的模型在该平台上的下载量约占 41%，超过了美国模型。
到今年夏天，阿里巴巴的 Qwen 模型家族在 Hugging Face 上的下载量已记录约 20.45 亿美元 次，而基于 Qwen 构建的衍生模型数量已达到 151,448 个，约为美国 Meta 模型衍生模型总数的 2.6 倍。
清华大学 产业研究院创院院长、中国工程院外籍院士张亚勤表示：“开放性可能成为中国 产业的结构性优势。较低的成本和更便捷的获取方式，使得 DeepSeek 和 Qwen 等模型对小型公司和新兴市场具有特别的吸引力。”
详见第 2 页 报道
沙漠绿洲：候鸟的生命线
◆
甘肃受保护的湿地成为黑鹳及其他物种的“天然繁殖地”
胡雨梦、马静娜 报道（兰州）
近三个月来，一只幼年黑鹳一直留在甘肃省一座悬崖上的巢穴中，等待学习飞行。随后，这只雏鸟终于迎来了离开其位于张掖市高台县临时家园的时刻。
同一巢穴中的其他雏鸟早已飞走。但第三只雏鸟由于腿部骨折，被留在了后面。
纪录片导演赵海在观看巢穴附近红外摄像机捕捉到的画面时，回想起了那一幕。
幼鸟犹豫着不愿离开巢穴，而它的父母则在附近陪伴。最终，雏鸟起飞了。它的父母在身边飞了一段时间，仿佛在鼓励它进行第一次飞行。
对于观察鸟类约30年、拍摄鸟类20多年的赵海来说，这是许多令黑鹳不再仅仅是其镜头拍摄对象的瞬间之一。“当我们观察鸟类时，有时它们的行为基本上与人类是一样的，”他说。
他回忆起另一个令人感动的场景。当刚孵化出的黑鹳雏鸟还很小，且四月的早晚天气寒冷时，一只成年鸟将塑料碎片带到巢中，用它们覆盖住雏鸟。
“这简直就像给雏鸟盖上毯子保暖一样，”赵海说。
这样的瞬间很难捕捉。黑鹳对人类高度警觉，赵海在拍摄时一直尽量减少对它们的干扰。
详见第3页“湿地”报道
国内统一连续出版物号: CN 11-0091 国际标准连续出版物号: ISSN 0253-9543 代号: 1-3
© 2026 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 46 — No. 14470
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篮球荣耀
周一，在贵州省台江县台盘村举行的“村BA”（乡村篮球联赛）全国总决赛中，来自广西壮族自治区的柳州柳寨镇队（身着黄色球衣）与来自新疆维吾尔自治区的叶城队展开对决。柳寨镇队以 91-75 获胜，成功卫冕，连续第二年夺冠。
瞿宏伦 / 中国新闻社
中国谴责毫无根据、虚假的人权指责
专家称，选择性批评暴露了西方国家的双重标准
作者：刘建桥
liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn
专家表示，一些西方国家继续捏造并散布关于中国的谎言，将人权问题政治化，而其自身却未能保障本国人民的福祉，这揭示了其在处理人权问题上明显的双重标准。
在周一举行的第81届联合国大会第三委员会的一般性讨论中，中国常驻联合国副代表孙磊表示，英国、澳大利亚、日本、爱尔兰、捷克共和国和立陶宛代表在发言中对中国提出了毫无根据的指责，并恶意抹黑中国的人权记录。中方对此表示强烈不满和坚决反对。
孙磊表示，这些国家自认为优于他人，经常扮演“人权教师”的角色。然而，他们对中国人权的指责毫无根据，且鉴于其国内严重的人权问题，他们没有资格在人权问题上说教。
孙磊指出，中国在追求发展的同时，始终致力于保障和改善人民生计，消除了绝对贫困，使近1 亿人摆脱贫困。
相比之下，他表示，例如英国的贫困问题在近年来持续恶化，超过1400 万人生活在贫困线以下，其中一半处于“极端贫困”状态。
前联合国极端贫困和人权特别报告员菲利普·阿尔斯顿（Philip Alston）在2018年的一份报告中称，1400 万人（占英国人口的五分之一）生活在贫困中，其中400 万人的收入低于贫困线的50%以上，另有150 万人处于赤贫状态，无法负担基本生活必需品。
英国社会指标委员会（British Social Metrics Commission）2024年的一项研究发现，自2019, 以来，生活成本危机导致又有200 万人陷入严重困境，这意味着总共有超过1600 万人被定义为生活在贫困中，占英国人口的24%，是自2000年开始有可比记录以来的最高水平。
孙磊表示，在日本，相对家庭贫困率约为15%，而儿童贫困已成为一个日益紧迫的问题。
孙磊补充说，中方对日本的人权状况深感关注。
他表示，中方敦促某些国家停止捏造和散布关于中国的谎言，停止将人权问题政治化。否则，他们将“最终搬起石头砸自己的脚”。
在对日本代表发言的第二次答辩中，孙磊告诉日方，只有严格履行国际义务，彻底清除军国主义遗毒，致力于和平发展，才能真正摆脱历史负担。
他表示，任何试图通过“国际贡献”和“生存危机”等虚假叙事来掩盖侵略历史、推动军国主义复活以及挑战正义与良知之普世原则的企图，都将不可避免地再次面临历史的清算和正义的审判。
华东师范大学亚太研究中心主任陈红表示，西方的“人权双重标准”本质上不仅仅是适用标准不一致的问题，而是将人权完全工具化和武器化。
他说：“当面对被其视为战略竞争对手的国家时，人权问题被无限放大，并被用作施压、实施制裁、干涉内政，甚至策划国际舆论战以孤立对方的借口。”
他表示，一些西方国家真正关心的是人权是否服务于其战略利益，而非人权本身。当人权与他们的利益一致时，他们就挥舞人权的大旗；而当两者不一致时，他们则选择保持沉默。
陈先生表示：“人权已被扭曲，从一种普世价值变成了西方在国际话语体系中维持政治主导地位和霸权的工具。”
他指出，英国等国家长期将自己塑造为民主、人权和自由的“传道者”，但这种道德优越感正变得越来越缺乏说服力。
陈先生说：“这些国家的人权外交日益像一种政治工具，其首要目的并非促进人权，而是为了维持其道德高地以及对国际议程的影响力。”
天津社会科学院副研究员刘书良表示，日本对其自身严重的人权问题视而不见，包括贫富差距、种族歧视、性别暴力和虐待老人。
他表示，近年来，日本还试图歪曲历史事实，逃避侵略行为的责任，同时不断将其安全政策推向进攻性、扩张性和危险的方向。日本已经撕下了所谓“热爱和平国家”的面具，正试图回归军国主义的老路。
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AI：模型降低门槛
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北京社会科学院的王研究员指出，中国AI模型的全球推广有助于使全球AI格局多样化，并减少对少数技术巨头的依赖。
“这些模型降低了采用AI的门槛，为海外企业提供了具有成本效益的解决方案，并为全球数字经济注入了新动力。开源协作和开放共享还能促进全球AI更具包容性的发展，有助于构建一个更加多样、平衡的AI生态系统。”
清华大学教授沈阳表示：“中国AI公司在海外扩张过程中已经遇到了不同的市场环境。东南亚地区的商业确定性相对较强，海湾市场的人均客户价值更高，而拉丁美洲则存在大量未被满足的需求。”
沈阳还表示，外国也日益追求其自身的“AI主权”形式。
作者联系方式：chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
“下跪道歉”视频引发强烈反弹
作者：李尚义（LI SHANGYI）
lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn
针对近期中国东方航空一航班上发生的乘客涉嫌辱骂乘务员并导致其下跪道歉的事件，中国航空运输协会呼吁民航业及社会共同维护乘务人员的合法权益。
一段关于该事件的视频于9月28日在社交媒体上迅速传播，视频显示一名乘务员在餐车旁下跪。发布视频的人称，乘务员在提供饮料服务时，餐车不小心碰到了一名男性乘客的肘部，但该乘客不接受其道歉。
该视频在网上引发了激烈讨论，许多网民表示该乘客的行为太过分，并呼吁加强对乘务员权益的保护。
9月30日，中国东方航空在对该事件进行调查后发布声明。事件发生在9月28日一架从安徽省合肥市飞往辽宁省大连市的航班上。
东航表示，乘务员在推餐车提供饮料服务时，餐车不慎触碰到一名正在睡眠的乘客的肘部。乘务员立即多次道歉并询问乘客情况。
据东航称，该乘客情绪激动，多次使用粗俗辱骂性语言，并威胁要踢该乘务员，要求她在航班落地后陪同其就医。
抵达目的地后，医护人员对该乘客进行了检查，未发现明显伤情，并判定无需进一步治疗。东航表示，该乘客拒绝了地面人员陪同就医的提议，自行离开。
东航补充称，已为因该乘客行为而感到困扰的乘务员提供心理咨询和支持。该乘务员现已恢复正常工作。
周六，该航空公司发布另一份声明，指出该乘客的行为扰乱了民航飞机秩序，侵犯了乘务员在履行职责时的尊严和权利。公司表示，已将此事报公安机关，并根据相关规定暂停该乘客的运输服务。
中国于7月1日起施行的修订后《民用航空法》禁止在民用航空器上寻衅滋事以及侮辱、袭击机组人员等行为。法律还增加了关于旅客权益保护的专门章节。
中国航空运输协会在周一晚间发布的微信公众号声明中表示，保护旅客合法权益与维护民航运输安全及航空从业人员职业尊严，是新法的两个有机组成部分，应予以同等重视。
该协会表示，坚定支持会员航空公司依法维护员工在履行职责时的合法权益。协会呼吁航空公司完善处理机上干扰行为的程序，加强对一线人员的保护。
协会还敦促旅客在航空出行时文明礼貌，理性行使权利。
该协会补充称，将继续关注该事件的处理进展，并鼓励会员航空公司完善服务管理体系和客舱服务标准，同时加强对乘务员及其他一线员工权益的保护。
红军老兵的沉默誓言塑造其精神遗产
of the Chishui River to practice.
作者：赵瑞南（ZHAO RUINAN），发自南昌 zhaoruinan@chinadaily.com.cn
1949年，中华人民共和国成立，何慕林终于不再需要伪装成不能说话的样子。
他想把这个消息告诉妻子。但当他开口时，没有发出任何声音。
“在那一刻，他真的发不出声音了，”他的孙女何莉在讲述母亲传给她的一个场景时说道。
何慕林把手放在妻子的肩膀上摇晃她，只能发出含糊不清的声音。
何慕林
“他只能点头，用眼神回答她，”何莉说。
14年来，她的祖父一直伪装成聋哑人——为了掩盖自己红军战士的身份，也为了保护那些冒着生命危险救他的村民。
何慕林1904年出生于江西省会昌县，年轻时加入革命队伍，后来成为红三军团五师训练营的一名班长。
1935年1月28, 1935, 他在现贵州省习水县土城附近的青岗坡参加战斗。这场战斗发生在遵义会议之后不久，且在红军第一次过赤水河之前。
对于何慕林来说，青岗坡就是长征的终点。
“我的祖父在战场上受了重伤，陷入昏迷，”何莉说，“当地人后来发现了他，把他抬到一个洞穴中养伤。”
在敌军搜寻受伤红军战士期间，赵家将他藏在那里，并秘密为他提供食物和草药。三个多月后，他的伤口愈合了，但腿部永久性残疾。
何慕林想赶上自己的部队，但担心会暴露掩护他的村民，因为他的江西口音很容易让他被认出是外地人。
“他不想给救他命的人带来麻烦，”何莉说。
于是他停止了说话。他靠体力劳动生存，最终定居在土城附近。这次伪装持续了14年。
中华人民共和国成立后，何慕林开始尝试找回自己的声音。
“起初他练习发声，”何莉说，“然后他慢慢练习一次说一个词。”
他反复前往
在多年不说话之后，他花了大约四年的时间练习，才能够再次进行相对清晰的交流。
在恢复语言能力后，何慕林经常步行前往青岗坡，那里埋葬着在战斗中牺牲的战友。
他会坐在他们的坟墓旁聊天。
何莉说，他对牺牲战友说的第一句清晰的话传递了一个简单的信息：新中国成立了，他们赢了，他们的血没有白流。
这个通过保持沉默而幸存下来的男人，后来在1954年成为了土城的一名志愿者讲述者，在25年间向游客分享他关于长征的回忆——地点通常在青岗坡战场和红军第一次过河的赤水河渡口。
在何慕林留下的遗物中，最让何莉惊讶的是一份1962年发给他的公费医疗证明。
这份证明从未被使用过——他从未为自己的旧腿伤寻求医疗救治，因为他认为，仅仅是生存下来就已经让他比那些牺牲的战友幸运得多。
何慕林于1979年去世。但讲述故事的行为仍在继续。
他的儿媳林成英（何莉的母亲）花了数十年时间向游客讲述他的故事。
2020年，何莉离开了一份稳定的医药企业工作，回到土城继续这项工作。她的女儿何可英后来也成为了一名志愿者导游。
现在，四代人接力讲述着何慕林的故事。
但有一段旅程他从未完成。在离开抚창后，何慕林再也没有回到家乡。
2018年，重走长征路的人们帮助其家人在江西找到了他的亲属。今年，何莉终于亲自完成了这段旅程。8月底，她首次抵达抚清。
亲人们用鞭炮迎接她。随后，她见到了两位年长的长辈，他们的面孔让她立刻想起了已故的父亲——何慕林的儿子何世洲。
“我拥抱了他们，然后就忍不住哭了起来，”她说，“感觉就像找到了家一样。”
何 Keying（左），何慕林的曾孙女，8月在贵州省遵义市赤水河四次渡口纪念馆为游客讲解。由中国日报提供
逮捕：日本被敦促改变对美军基地的立场
2003年以来的最高数字。
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代表冲绳县的参议院议员宝幸香（Sachika Takara）在首相官邸外的一次集会上表示，日本政府多次要求美方加强纪律，但未能防止此类事件的发生。
她呼吁重新评估冲绳沉重的基地负担，以及她所描述的日本在安全政策中对军事手段的过度依赖。
2025年，冲绳县警方处理了101起涉及美军人员、文职雇员及其家属的刑事案件，该数字为。
从1972年到去年，警方共处理了6,409起涉及美军相关人员的刑事案件。其中，600起涉及包括谋杀在内的严重犯罪。
1995年，三名美军人员强奸一名女学生的事件引发了日本公众的愤怒。次年，日本和美国同意归还普天山海军陆战队航空站占用的土地，但这尚未实现。
来自法政大学的白鸟（Shiratori）表示，此类事件自20世纪90年代以来在冲绳反复发生，这加剧了人们的批评，认为日本本土让冲绳独自承担国家的国防负担。
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封面
左图：9月，甘肃省高台县张掖黑河湿地国家级自然保护区的工作人员为一只黑鹳安装GPS追踪设备。 CHINA 记者：尚国峰 / 为《中国日报》拍摄
中图：保护区内拍摄的一只黑鹳雏鸟。右图：一只成年黑鹳在喂养雏鸟。 CHINA 摄影：赵海 / 为《中国日报》拍摄
湿地：在沙漠中孕育鸟类生命
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到目前为止，他已经记录了两个巢穴在大部分繁殖过程中的情况。但他在巢穴中看到的，只是张掖黑河湿地沿线正在展开的一个更大故事的一部分。
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“鸟类机场”
当地人有时将这些湿地描述为一座“鸟类机场”。
湿地护林员姜永红在巡视高台正义峡区域时，亲眼见证了这种季节性的“交通流量”。这里是黑鹳的天然繁殖地。
张掖地处广袤的巴丹吉林沙漠边缘，该沙漠是中国第三大沙漠，面积约 49,200 平方公里。沙漠向北和向西延伸，覆盖了大部分地貌，而祁连山则耸立在南侧。黑河穿过这片干旱的土地，形成了候鸟可以停留、觅食和休息的湿地。
张掖黑河湿地国家级自然保护区负责人山国峰表示，该保护区包括黑河及其支流、沼泽等自然栖息地，以及人工水库和人工湖。多样化的栖息地支撑着 246 种鸟类，其中包括 107 种水鸟，以及国家保护的野生动物。
甘肃位于中亚-印度迁飞路线和东亚-澳大利西亚迁飞路线的关键路段，是数十万只候鸟的重要中转站。
姜永红表示，大量候鸟从 9 月初开始抵达，数量在 10 月中旬左右达到顶峰。黑鹳是主要物种之一，而其他水鸟则利用水库、浅水区和泥滩。
姜永红将这些湿地比作高速公路服务区。
他说，在飞行数百甚至数千公里后，鸟类需要一个停留、休息和觅食的地方。山国峰说：“它们可能发现了这片绿洲，并选择在这里停留。”
湿地不仅仅是鸟类经过的地方。对于黑鹳来说，这里还提供了繁殖地。
黑鹳被誉为“鸟类中的大熊猫”，对栖息地的要求非常苛刻。它需要洁净的水源、充足的食物以及极少的人为干扰才能繁衍和生存。因此，该物种通常被视为生态系统健康状况的天然指标。
姜永红表示，黑鹳经常选择正义峡周围的悬崖进行繁殖，因为那里地势高且相对孤立。此外，这里靠近湿地，方便它们捕食鱼虾并将食物带回巢中。
繁殖季节通常始于 3 月下旬或 4 月初。雏鸟一般在 5 月左右孵化，并在 7 月下旬或 8 月初开始离巢。
在繁殖期间，保护工作人员会在部分鸟巢周围设置警告标志和围栏，并在必要时向河中投放小鱼小虾，以补充天然食物来源。
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山脉之“生命之源”
让这个“机场”成为可能的水源来自更遥远的地方。
在遥远的上游，积雪、冰川、多年冻土和降水汇入祁连山的溪流。这些径流汇集成河，最终流入黑河，维持着干旱的河西走廊沿线的生态系统。
在原本干旱的地貌中，黑河及其支流穿过张掖一个占地 41,200 公顷的保护区，形成了由河流、湖泊、池塘、森林、草原和湿地组成的马赛克景观。
“祁连山是河西走廊乃至额济纳的生命之源，”甘肃省祁连山水源涵养林研究所所长徐尔文表示。
但这座山脉的重要性不仅仅在于供水。“我们发现，水一直是理解祁连山的关键，”研究该生态系统四十多年的徐尔文说道。
他表示，山上的森林和草原起到了巨大的“海绵”作用，上游的水源维持了浅水区、水生生物以及候鸟赖以生存的觅食地。
这座山脉的作用还不仅限于储水。
“祁连山的森林、草原和灌木不仅是水源涵养的主要组成部分，还是驱动区域水汽循环的‘泵’，”徐尔文说。
但这个系统并非静止不变。徐尔文所在的研究所在祁连山的大叶口盆地维持了一个生态观测站 30 年之久。他表示，观测结果显示，那里的温度每 10 年上升约 0.17 摄氏度。
气候变暖可能会加速冰川融化和多年冻土消融，但徐尔文警告说，不能简单地将其视为对湿地有益。
他表示，一个生态系统包括冰冻圈、水、森林和草原等相互关联的要素。其中一个环节的变化不能简单地判定为对另一个环节是有利还是有害。
他认为，明确的一点是维持稳定水源供应的重要性。
“没有水就没有绿洲。没有水，就没有生命，”徐尔文说道，并补充说，生态修复和水源涵养应该从长远来看，而不是根据一两年的变化来评判。
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栖息地修复
对于依赖湿地的鸟类来说，稳定的水源并非一个抽象的生态目标，它决定了在需要时是否有足够的栖息地和食物。
顶部：7月，张掖黑河湿地国家级自然保护区工作人员在高台县搜寻黑鹳期间对该区域进行巡护。蒋永红 / 为《中国日报》拍摄
上方：9月，研究人员为一只黑鹳安装GPS追踪器。
山国峰 / 为《中国日报》拍摄
蒋先生表示，今年的干旱状况导致部分地区的水资源可用性降低。黑鹳以小鱼、小虾以及蜻蜓幼虫和蝌蚪为食。当水源匮乏时，它们的觅食地会缩小，食物来源也会变得不再丰富。
山先生表示，今年湿地部分地区的水位有所下降，导致适合水鸟生存的区域减少。该保护区全年的完整监测结果尚未出炉，但野外观察表明，鸟类数量低于往年。
因此，维持合适的栖息地需要持续的生态修复和管理。
自“十四五”规划（2021-25年）期间以来，中央和省级专项资金共计约1.3 亿元（$19）用于支持该保护区的生态保护与修复。超过160公顷的受损湿地已得到修复，另有274.73公顷的植被得到恢复。
据该保护区称，已有超过27.4公里的水道经过清淤，生态补水覆盖面积达953.33公顷。
特别是针对黑鹳，栖息地修复重点在于创建浅水觅食地。山先生表示，作为涉禽，黑鹳在深水中无法有效觅食，因此修复工作包括创建深度通常不超过50厘米的区域，以便鸟类捕捉鱼类。
针对黑鹳的定向栖息地修复始于2025年并持续至今年，同时还开展了巡护、减少人为干扰的措施，并在食物有限的繁殖季节提供小鱼和小虾。
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卫星追踪
然而，栖息地修复仅是工作的一部分。保护工作者还需要了解鸟类如何利用湿地，以及它们离开后去往何处。
山先生表示，该保护区自2014年起就开始监测鸟类。
自2022年起，保护工作者利用繁殖观察、行为研究和卫星追踪来监测黑鹳及其他稀有鸟类。
到目前为止，已有39只黑鹳安装了卫星追踪器，主要用于研究在张掖繁殖的鸟类的迁徙路线，包括它们何时离开、在何处停留以及在何处越冬。
追踪结果揭示了张掖种群的一条规律性迁徙路线。
这些鸟类通常在10月中下旬离开，跨越祁连山，在包括青海省和若尔盖草原在内的湿地停留，随后穿过云南省前往缅甸越冬。
山先生说，它们在次年沿大致相同的路线返回。
监测的价值在2026年3月得到了证明。当时追踪数据显示，一只在2025年9月安装了卫星设备的黑鹳已返回正义峡。随后的实地检查确认，它在那里成功繁殖。
“对于我们研究黑鹳的繁殖习性和迁徙模式来说，这是一个重大发现，”山先生说，并补充道，此类发现有助于研究人员制定更具针对性的保护措施。
在2026年的繁殖季期间，工作人员进行了三轮全覆盖调查。他们记录到23只黑鹳雏鸟孵化，其中19只成功离巢。
长期监测还提供了一种更审慎的方式来解读鸟类数量的变化。
2024年的一次同步调查记录到保护区内有675只黑鹳，而2025年的后续调查记录到455只。山先生表示，年度间的差异并不一定意味着湿地环境质量发生了变化。
他说，鸟类监测是一个长期过程，通常以五年左右为一个周期进行比较才更有意义。年度数量可能会受到随机或临时因素的影响，因此一年的数量下降并不一定意味着湿地环境恶化。
“在更长的时间跨度内，例如10年，鸟类数量呈现出整体上升趋势，”山先生说，“这表明环境正在逐渐改善。”
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日常守护
对于江先生来说，守护这些成果是他日常工作的一部分。他每隔一天就会沿着黑河以及正义峡区域进行巡逻。他负责检查是否有火灾、砍伐树木、非法开采砂石以及河岸受损的情况，同时观察野生动物。
“湿地就是我们的邻居，”他在描述居民点与湿地如何共存时说道。
该保护区是张掖更广泛的湿地保护网络的一部分，张掖拥有 230,300 公顷的湿地。该市建立了一个四级保护体系，包括国家级自然保护区、国家湿地公园、湿地保护区以及参与湿地保护与管理的村庄。
技术也在扩大保护的覆盖范围。该市增加了远程监控点、无人机巡逻系统和监测设备，并将其与卫星遥感以及全市的生态监测网络相结合。
在实地工作中，人们继续应对与鸟类共享景观所带来的日常挑战。
沈阳（音译）是国家电网张掖电力供应公司的输电线路巡检员，多年来一直负责检查湿地周边的电力线路。他注意到，在过去十年中，鸟类物种增多了，某些鸟类的数量也增加了。据他观察，曾经在张掖罕见的鸟类现在已变得常见。
沈先生表示，随着鸟类数量的增加，作为湿地整体规划的一部分，一条穿过湿地的输电线路在 2015 年之前被迁移到了郊区。
对于沈先生来说，保护鸟类已成为他日常巡逻的一部分。当他发现受伤或无法飞行的鸟类时，会将其送往野生动物保护站进行护理。
即使鸟巢空了，他仍会回去检查。“虽然鸟儿飞走了，但我还是会来看看。它们明年会回来的，”他说。
左图：甘肃张掖黑河湿地是天鹅、苍鹭和斑嘴鸭等鸟群的栖息地，随着冰雪开始融化，它们在水域中觅食和休息。 CHENG GANG / 为《中国日报》拍摄。右图：黑鹳聚集在湿地中。 SHAN GUOFENG / 为《中国日报》拍摄。
世界
联合国秘书长呼吁加沙实现永久停火
联合国——在2023年10月7日袭击事件三周年纪念日到来之前，联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在周一呼吁在加沙实现永久停火。
古特雷斯在纪念日的一份信息中表示，那些袭击带来的恐怖绝不能重演，随后在加沙发生的敌对行动必须结束。
2023年10月7日，巴勒斯坦武装组织哈马斯从加沙袭击以色列，造成约1,200人死亡，251人被劫持为人质。以色列随即在加沙对哈马斯发动战争，导致至少74,000名巴勒斯坦人死亡。
古特雷斯表示：“（袭击）之后发生的毁灭性敌对行动给加沙的巴勒斯坦人带来了难以言表的苦难，包括大规模的人员伤亡、流离失所和破坏。”他补充道：“平民继续忍受着难以忍受的境况。他们的苦难也必须现在结束。”
他表示，去年达成的停火协议带来了一定的缓解，但尚未提供安全保障、充足的人道主义援助，或一条可靠的恢复与和平之路。
“我敦促各方全面履行其承诺，并推进停火的下一阶段，”他说，“现在是让停火变为永久的时候了。现在是允许大规模人道主义援助的时候了。现在也是尊重国际法的时候了。”
一名巴勒斯坦男子周一在加沙地带北部的贾巴利亚难民营清理屋顶。BASHAR TALEB / AFP
古特雷斯强调，需要为整个地区建立一条通往持久和平的政治路径，并补充说，联合国在致力于这些紧迫任务方面依然坚定不移。
他说：“让这个周年纪念日不仅成为又一个哀悼之年，更成为建立不同未来的新决心：在这个未来中，以色列人和巴勒斯坦人能够和平、安全地肩并肩生活，其权利、尊严和愿望都能得到实现。”
目前仍控制着加沙大部分地区的以色列拒绝在哈马斯的解除武装得到验证之前撤出士兵。
而哈马斯则主张逐步解除武装，而非立即单方面交出其军火库。
自2023年袭击以来，以色列在多个战线发动军事攻击，特别是入侵黎巴嫩南部以对抗真主党运动，并与美国一起对伊朗发动战争。
与此同时，以色列国防部长以色列·卡茨周一表示，他与总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡已命令军方搜捕并击毙参与哈马斯领导的袭击的剩余人员。
他表示，当天约有6,000名袭击者跨境进入以色列，并补充说其中4,000人已被击毙。“我们命令军方追捕并击毙他们所有人，从最高级别到最低级别，”他说。
新华社 - 综合电
中国设计在洛杉矶博物馆呈现新形态
9月22日，在洛杉矶卢卡斯叙事艺术博物馆开幕式期间，联合创始人乔治·卢卡斯（中）及其妻子梅洛迪·霍布森（右二）与中国建筑师马岩松（右）以及卢卡斯博物馆首席执行官特雷西·贝茨（左二）合影。 RENA LI / 中国日报
作者：RENA LI，发自洛杉矶
renali@chinadailyusa.com
卢卡斯叙事艺术博物馆的开幕为洛杉矶增添了一座新的文化地标，它将电影、插画、漫画、壁画、建筑和景观融合在一起，同时创造了一个跨文化交流的新空间。
该博物馆由《星球大战》的创作者、电影制作人乔治·卢卡斯及其妻子梅洛迪·霍布森共同创立，于上个月向公众开放，首日门票全部售罄。这座占地28,000平方米的博物馆由MAD建筑事务所创始人、中国建筑师马岩松设计，旨在追溯跨文化、跨世纪的视觉叙事，涵盖从洞穴壁画到电影和壁画的演变。
对于马岩松而言，这个项目也是一个机会，可以将根植于中国建筑传统的理念引入美国的主要文化机构。他将这座建筑构思为一朵“漂浮的云”，让景观和公共空间在建筑下方流动，而不是在公园中央放置一个传统的建筑方盒子。
马岩松表示，他的设计方法受到了当代技术、中国传统园林以及他在北京童年经历的影响，在那里，湖泊、花园和建筑紧密共存。
“作为一名中国建筑师，我深受中国传统建筑的影响，例如园林，”他说。“未来的建筑应该是全新的。你不需要重复木结构或坡屋顶，但你应该继续创造空间，将其与自然、与人类情感相连接。”
他表示，这种理念可以跨越文化，因为人与自然的关系是普适的。
“当我把这个想法带到美国或欧洲时，人们很喜欢，因为自然是一个普适的话题，”马岩松说。“中国传统建筑已经探讨过这一点……关于情感和精神性。这超越了可持续发展和环境问题的考量。”
对马岩松来说，卢卡斯博物馆成为了一种证明：中国的建筑传统可以为当代全球设计语言提供启发，而无需简单地复制历史形式。
博物馆将马岩松的设计称为一种“情感建筑”，它模糊了建筑与公园之间的界限，鼓励参观者在进入展厅之前先体验建筑本身。
这种跨文化协作也延伸到了博物馆的艺术使命中。
“我花了50多年时间收集那些并未总是获得应有认可的艺术家的作品，包括插画师、漫画家、壁画师和画家，因为我相信他们的图像与其他任何艺术形式一样至关重要，”卢卡斯在开幕式上说。“他们理应进入博物馆。”
该馆的永久收藏包含40,000多件作品，而首批展览则涵盖了不同媒介和历史时期的1,300多件作品。展厅将流行艺术与纯艺术置于同一叙事传统之中，将诺曼·洛克韦尔、弗里达·卡罗、罗伯特·科莱斯科特、弗兰克·弗拉泽塔和罗伯特·克朗布等艺术家的作品与卢卡斯档案库中的电影资料汇聚在一起。
该博物馆高级策展人兼电影项目负责人瑞安·林科夫表示，中国提供了许多探索途径。
“作为世界文化中如此重要的一部分，中国当然是我们能够找到各种探索途径的地方，”他说。“当然，在未来，我们在这方面有很多机会。”
对于参观者来说，建筑与艺术的融合已经成为了体验的一部分。
参加开幕式的阿迪拉·巴斯克斯将这座建筑描述为既现代又具有未来感，并表示其曲线轮廓与附近的洛杉矶纪念体育场形成了鲜明对比。
“在那儿你可以看到一座体育场，那是非常有标志性的洛杉矶纪念体育场，然后你转过身，就能看到紧挨着它的这座建筑艺术品，”她说道。
专家：东盟需加强联系以应对经济压力
作者：杨万里（YANG WANLI），发自曼谷 yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn
专家表示，随着能源、贸易和供应链日益成为地缘政治竞争的工具，东南亚国家的对冲空间正在缩小。他们补充说，目前的挑战在于如何将共同原则转化为协调行动，并最终取得成果。
世界贸易组织在上个月的一份报告中表示，地缘政治紧张局势、政府干预、技术竞争以及对供应链的担忧，正给基于规则的贸易带来更大压力。
东盟（东南亚国家联盟）在今年早些时候发布了《2026-2030年经济共同体战略计划》，将地缘政治紧张局势、贸易流向变化、技术转型、气候变化和人口结构转变确定为塑造该地区的主要力量，同时呼吁深化整合并增强韧性。
曼谷朱拉隆功大学安全与国际研究学院院长、泰国前商务部长纳隆猜·阿克拉萨尼（Narongchai Akrasanee）表示，从全球化向全球碎片化的转变既带来了风险，也带来了机遇。
他表示，美国贸易政策转变引发的动荡正给市场带来压力，但东盟的经济整合提供了一个重要的缓冲地带。
在近期由智库 FACTS Asia 和战略政策研究所举办的一场研讨会上，纳隆猜指出，尽管受到外部冲击，东盟内部贸易仍维持在区域贸易总额的约四分之一，并继续增长。
然而，他表示，韧性不仅仅是指在集团内部增加贸易，还需要让市场力量决定稀缺资源（尤其是能源）的分配。
这一挑战十分艰巨。东盟能源中心在其基准情景预测中预计，到2050年，最终能源消费量将达到2022年水平的2.6倍，而该集团可能在明年成为天然气净进口国。
纳隆猜呼吁对石油和天然气生产、发电与输电、需求管理、数据中心以及可再生能源进行监管改革，并表示更大的灵活性将有助于东盟在满足日益增长的能源需求的同时保持竞争力。
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共同风险
泰国副总理兼财政部长顾问本加隆·苏万基里（Benjarong Suwankiri）强调，一个稳定的环境至关重要，这样企业才能在面对地缘政治不确定性时继续投资。
本加隆表示，东盟拥有“共同努力以加强能源和粮食安全的机遇，同时也承担着这一责任”。
他指出，该地区面临着跨越国界的共同风险——从地缘政治、气候变化到人工智能（AI）和人口结构转变——这些风险需要共同努力应对。
他补充说，区域合作可以包括推进东盟电网（ASEAN Power Grid）、将数字框架扩展至 AI 治理，以及为碳信用额度开发共同标准和市场。
泰国商务部副部长基里达·波皮奇特（Kirida Bhaopichitr）表示，东盟不应从全球市场退缩，而应让自己成为全球市场中更可靠的一部分。
基里达说：“我们整合不仅是为了内部贸易，更是为了构建一个具有韧性、全球互联且能够抵御干扰的供应链。”
她表示，东盟拥有超过6.5 亿人口的市场，这提供了强大的基础，但如果该地区希望继续成为全球贸易和投资的竞争中心，就必须深化内部整合以及与外部伙伴的联系。
三国在威胁增加之际加强联合防御
沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦、土耳其承诺在胡塞武装袭击期间迅速调动部队
作者：JAN YUMUL（香港）及 CUI HAIPEI（阿联酋迪拜）
随着也门战事升级以及中东地区安全风险增加，沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和土耳其周一同意立即履行他们在麦加防御联盟（Mecca Defense Alliance）下的集体防御承诺。
这一公告发布当天，沙特阿拉伯航空当局表示，该国两座机场——阿卜杜拉国王国际机场和纳季兰国际机场——遭到袭击，导致3人受伤并造成财产损失。
应急响应团队和相关部门立即按照批准的程序和计划启动了响应措施。
据新华社报道，也门胡塞武装周二声称，其对沙特阿拉伯西南部的阿布哈国际机场发动了新一轮弹道导弹袭击，在跨境敌对行动持续升级之际干扰了航空交通。
胡塞武装周一晚间表示，他们使用导弹和无人机袭击了沙特阿拉伯境内的机场、一座石油设施和军事地点；而沙特领导的联军则表示，已挫败了胡塞武装针对红海南部水域的阴谋。
胡塞武装军事发言人叶海亚·萨雷亚（Yahya Sarea）在电视广播中表示，该组织在沙特阿拉伯开展了三次行动。第一次目标是利雅得的哈立德国王国际机场。他表示，第二次袭击了红海沿岸城市拉比格的一家阿美公司（Aramco）炼油厂并引发火灾。
他补充说，第三次目标是阿布哈国际机场、哈米什穆谢特附近的哈立德国王空军基地、西南部的阿西尔地区阿基法军事营地，以及纳季兰和贾赞的其他“重要地点”。
周一在利雅得举行的麦加防御联盟战略政治与国防委员会紧急会议后，沙特阿拉伯、巴基斯坦和土耳其发表联合声明，称委员会已任命巴基斯坦中将努曼·马哈茂德（Nauman Mahmood）为该联盟首任秘书长，任期三年。
该联盟是三国之间的集体防御伙伴关系，也被称为麦加防御联盟。
声明称，该联盟将采取必要措施提供军事力量，并确保其在沙特阿拉伯的快速部署。
三国还谴责了针对麦加和麦地那的企图，以及对沙特城市、平民和经济设施的持续袭击。
上个月，多家美国媒体报道称，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼和也门总统领导委员会主席拉沙德·阿尔-阿里米（Rashad al-Alimi）曾寻求美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的协助，以对胡塞武装发动军事攻击，但特朗普拒绝干预或做出直接的军事支持承诺。
然而，周一在马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地接受媒体采访时，美国国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥（Marco Rubio）表示，美国与沙特阿拉伯签署有国防与安全协议，“我们打算遵守该协议”。他拒绝讨论进一步的细节。
阿拉伯联合酋国迪拜公共政策研究中心的资深研究员拉莎·阿尔·朱恩迪（Rasha Al Joundy）告诉《中国日报》，伊朗战争加剧了胡塞武装对沙特阿拉伯的威胁，从而推动了更多区域性防御方案的实施。
她说：“只要威胁持续存在，这种情况就会增加。与此同时，特朗普正试图在他的霍尔木兹海峡政策与也门局势之间保持距离，以免美国在红海和曼德海峡陷入另一次海峡冲突。”
海湾阿拉伯国家合作委员会秘书长贾塞姆·穆罕默德·阿尔布代维（Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi）谴责了胡塞武装对沙特阿拉伯阿卜杜拉国王国际机场和纳季兰国际机场设施的袭击。
他表示，国际社会应当承担起责任，对这些袭击采取果断立场。
作者联系方式：jan@chinadailyapac.com
租房动荡
一名示威者在周一西班牙巴塞罗那举行的一场反对驱逐租客和高房租的抗议活动中，举着一块写有“结束房东的贪婪”的标牌。MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP
简讯
瑞典
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弗朗西斯·哈尔岑获得诺贝尔物理学奖
评奖委员会周二表示，比利时物理学家弗朗西斯·哈尔岑（Francis Halzen）因在南极开展的亚原子粒子研究而获得诺贝尔物理学奖。瑞典皇家科学院秘书长艾伦·穆恩斯（Ellen Moons）在新闻发布会上表示：“今年的奖项聚焦于来自太空的‘幽灵信使’。”评奖委员会称，哈尔岑因“对冰立方中微子天文台（IceCube Neutrino Observatory）做出的决定性贡献以及发现天体物理起源的高能中微子”而获此殊荣。
尼日利亚
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飞机失事死亡人数从32人下调至25人
尼日利亚空军周二将其前一日失事飞机的死亡人数从32人下调至25人，并公布了遇难者名单（其中包括平民），同时表示未发现幸存者。空军发言人埃希门·埃乔达梅（Ehimen Ejodame）在声明中表示，航班“NAF 931共有25人登机，包括5名机组人员和20名乘客”，并补充道：“尚未发现幸存者。”
综合消息 - 新华社
左图：7月14日，北京举行的一场融合爵士音乐会，由中国古筝与钢琴共同演绎，旨在纪念塞万提斯学院成立20周年。曾指导该学院初期发展的因马·冈萨雷斯·普伊（Inma Gonzalez Puy）已从该学院上海分院回到北京分院担任院长。照片由《中国日报》提供。右图：2007年，因马·冈萨雷斯·普伊在北京故宫留影。
一位西班牙使节在中国的终身旅程
1979年抵达北京，在文学激发的好奇心驱动下，Inma Gonzalez Puy将其职业生涯致力于在两国之间编织深厚且持久的文化纽带
"tant, little-known, and largely imaginary reality."
Inma Gonzalez Puy在上海塞万提斯学院。
作者：YANG RAN
yangran1@chinadaily.com.cn
来自巴塞罗那的Inma Gonzalez Puy在中国生活了数十年，一直致力于促进西班牙与中国之间的联系。因此，这位北京塞万提斯学院的院长充满信心地表示：“文化是连接不同社会最强大的工具之一。”
这位巴塞罗那原住民与中国的联系并非始于一张机票，而是一本书。在青少年时期，她偶然读到了赛珍珠和林语堂作品的西班牙语译本——这些作家为她描绘了一个她从未见过的国家的生动形象。
“在20世纪70年代的西班牙，关于中国的书籍很少。然而，那几卷书激发了我对一个遥远而神秘之地的深切好奇。在某种程度上，正是它们开启了我前往中国的旅程，”她回忆道。
这段旅程在1979年成为了现实，当时北京首次开始招收来自西班牙的留学生。当时还是大学生的Gonzalez Puy抓住了机会，申请就读于北京语言学院（现北京语言大学）。
“那些阅读为我打开了通往中国的第一扇想象之门，”她说，“后来，当我于1979年抵达时，我发现现实比任何文学描写都要复杂且迷人得多。”
她的学习坚定了他留在中国的决心。1983年，Gonzalez Puy回到西班牙驻华大使馆工作，在那里她度过了20年——起初担任翻译，随后担任文化参赞。“那些年是双边关系巩固的关键年份，我的职业生涯几乎与当代中国的转型同步展开，”她说。
“那些年让我确信，文化不仅仅是外交的补充元素，而是其最深刻的工具之一。一次展览、一本书或一部电影可以开启延续数代的理解路径。”
在整个职业生涯中，Gonzalez Puy通过具体的项目践行这一信念。1995年，她在巴塞罗那策划了一场开创性的中国前卫艺术展，向欧洲观众介绍了30多位中国当代艺术家。
十年后，她协助在巴塞罗那组织了一场上海博物馆精美青铜器的特展——这是西班牙首场此类展览。“我希望为更多外国人创造亲身体验中国文化魅力的机会，”她说，“能策划这样一场有意义的展览，我感到很荣幸。”
除了将中国文化引入西班牙，Gonzalez Puy也非常擅长在中国的社会中发掘西班牙文化元素。
她最独特的尝试或许始于2013年，当时她挖掘出了一颗被遗忘的瑰宝：一个世纪前由中国学者林纾完成的第一个《堂吉诃德》中文译本。
林纾译本的独特之处在于，他既不会说也不会读西班牙语。他是通过助手了解堂吉诃德的冒险故事的。林纾被这位理想主义骑士所吸引，创作出了一个极具创造性的改编版本，重塑了情节，将西班牙语表达转化为中文成语，并为文本注入了本土风味。
Gonzalez Puy决心拯救这个被遗忘的译本，将其呈献给西班牙读者。她找到了格拉纳达大学著名的汉学家、中国古典文学教授Alicia Relinque，承担起将林纾的中文译本细致地译回西班牙语的任务。
该译本于2021年出版。冈萨雷斯·普伊表示：“这是一次双重的回归，”她指出，这不仅是《堂吉诃德》回到了它的根源，也是自1934年以来，林纾的译文首次由原出版社在中国重新出版。
这个项目体现了中西文化之间的对话，而这正是冈萨雷斯·普伊认为塞万提斯学院存在的意义所在。
“文化的真正价值恰恰在于这种对话，”她说，“塞万提斯学院不是一个让一种文化观察另一种文化的窗口，而是一张让双方坐下来交谈的圆桌。”
事实上，冈萨雷斯·普伊曾负责筹备塞万提斯学院在中国的设立。
“我有幸从2006年7月14日开业之日起，就指导北京塞万提斯学院的初步发展。现在，在北京塞万提斯学院成立20周年之际重新担任院长，感觉像是与一个我倾注了职业生涯很大一部分心血的项目重逢。”
在数十年促进中西文化交流后，冈萨雷斯·普伊看到了两种文化之间的许多共同点：两者都是拥有卓越艺术遗产和丰富历史传承的古老文明，同样强调人际关系、家庭，将美食视为一种社交仪式，并且在对待传统的尊重以及对待他人的尊重与宽容方面具有共识。
她将近几十年来双边关系的演变描述为具有变革性的。
“1979年我第一次来到中国时，西班牙对中国的了解还非常有限，”她说，“对于许多西班牙人来说，中国是一个——”
如今，情况已截然不同。“中国已成为国际日常现实的一部分，”她说道，并强调了人们对其语言、历史、文化和社会的兴趣激增。
她表示，西班牙目前拥有10多所孔子学院，且中国古代和现代文学译作的出版数量正在增加。“越来越多的西班牙年轻人正在学习中文，他们意识到在全球化世界中，中文具有职业价值。”
通过四十年来担任从西班牙大使馆文化专员到上海和北京塞万提斯学院院长的各种职务，冈萨雷斯·普伊直接见证了中国的飞速发展。
“我有幸见证了中国的改革开放，见证了其城市、经济和社会的变化，以及其非凡的文化演进，”她说，这些话语承载着一个生活在变革核心之人的生命分量。
40多年后，中国对她的吸引力依然没有减弱，甚至比她刚到达时更加深厚。“我认为，让我与这个国家保持联系的是好奇心，”她总结道，“这里依然是一个总有新事物可以发现和学习的地方，一个不断变化的地方。”在她眼中，这是一个永不停步地自我重塑的国家。
加泰罗尼亚与中国陶瓷传统在融合艺术中相互启发
左图：若梅·里巴尔塔（Jaume Ribalta）练习中国传统绘画。照片由中国日报提供。右图：若梅·里巴尔塔用刷子为一件青花瓷瓶上色釉。
作者：刘建桥
liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn
一位来自西班牙的陶瓷艺术家在江西省景德镇发现的不仅仅是一个工作室，而是一个家。若梅·里巴尔塔在借鉴中国和西班牙艺术传统的基础上，通过自己的作品锻造出一种独特的风格，他的旅程成为了两国文化交流的见证。
里巴尔塔在西班牙加泰罗尼亚地区的一个小镇塔雷加（Tarrega）长大，那里靠近巴塞罗那，拥有悠久的陶瓷传统。他的艺术之旅始于8岁，当时他加入了第一个“Petit Taller”（小工作室）。
他最早的记忆之一是一个装满颜料和黏土的浴缸，这个童年场景成为了他与艺术及陶瓷终身关系的起点。
“在孩子看来，那就像是一个特立独行的画家表演后的残迹。那是一个奇怪而神奇的地方，我立刻感觉到我想去探索它，”他说。
“陶瓷早已是我童年的一部分。我经常去祖父母家，那里有很多花瓶和瓷盘。但在巴塞罗那的马萨纳学校（Escola Massana）——一所艺术与设计学校，我开始更自觉地理解陶瓷，它不仅是一门手艺，更是一种结合了绘画、绘画、雕塑、建筑、设计和时间的语言，”他说。
里巴尔塔于2017年来到中国担任艺术教育工作者，但教学只是吸引他来到这里的原因之一。在假期期间，他周游全国，学习中国书法和传统绘画，寻求深化对中国文化的理解。
“长期以来，我一直被钴蓝色瓷器所吸引。我告诉自己，在找到制作青花瓷的地方之前，我不会离开中国。我的前几年主要在江苏省度过，特别是如皋和南通，在那里我向当地的艺术家和手工艺人学习。我研究了毛笔、宣纸、书法以及中国传统绘画的象征语言，”他说。
当里巴尔塔在2019年第一次抵达
景德镇时，他立刻产生了一种认同感。在走访中国不同地区并学习通过多元艺术传统的视角观察这个
国家之后，他觉得景德镇正是那些塑造其艺术旅程的诸多问题可以继续展开的地方。
“最令我震撼的是，这里的传统是活着的。景德镇不仅仅是一座博物馆或一个历史景点。它是一座运转中的城市，人们在这里继续实践代代相传的技艺。过去与现在之间的连续性深深地打动了我，”他说。
2022年，里巴尔塔将工作室永久搬到了景德镇。他以教师的身份来到中国，却以学生的身份留了下来，这座城市不断提醒他要拥抱这个角色，向他展示这里永远有更多值得发现、学习和探索的东西。
里巴尔塔表示，他的作品将家乡西班牙的视觉元素与中国传统陶瓷技法（包括青花瓷和釉下彩红装饰）结合在一起。
“对我来说，这是一种更深层次的对话。我感兴趣的不是简单地将一个加泰罗尼亚符号放在一个中国符号旁边，那仅仅是视觉上的组合。我感兴趣的是，当两种传统接触并开始相互改变时会发生什么，”他说。
在他的杰作之一《我的樱桃树》中，里巴尔塔（Ribalta）用一棵树将加泰罗尼亚与中国联系在一起。他景德镇工作室里的那棵樱桃树让他想起了塔雷加（Tarrega）附近的杏树，小时候，他的父亲在那里教他用石头敲开杏仁以及放风筝。与此同时，它也唤起了中国诗歌中赞颂的梅花。这个意象既属于这两个地方，也属于某种更普适的东西：渴望、韧性、春天与新生。
“对我来说，文化融合并非一种装饰策略，而是一种理解身份的方式。我并非为了接纳另一个起点而放弃原有的起点。生活在远离加泰罗尼亚的地方，我能够以全新的视角回顾它。与此同时，中国给了我新的材料、技术和观察方式，”他说道。
里巴尔塔选择燕子作为“生活在中国的西班牙人”的象征。这种鸟跨越国境迁徙，却总能找到回到熟悉之地的路。对他而言，这映射了他自己的旅程：离开西班牙来到中国，并逐渐在景德镇扎根。燕子和里巴尔塔本人一样，不只属于一个地方。
“燕子对我来说仍然是一个重要的象征，因为它代表了迁徙与记忆。它在不同地点之间旅行，但它也会回归。在《我的樱桃树》中，燕子表达了流动、依恋以及属于多个地方的可能性，”他说道。
“未来，我想继续探索中国与加泰罗尼亚陶瓷传统之间的关系。此外，我还想讲述关于中国当代生活的故事，而不仅仅是历史或象征性的故事。这些物件看起来可能很平凡，但它们包含了关于人们如何生活的深刻记忆，”他说道。
阅读
当AI开始替人们阅读
作者：李洋（LI YANG）
liyang@chinadaily.com.cn
技术可以改变教育，但不能通过取代人类的学习来实现
书籍的消失有多种方式——被焚毁、被忽视或被弃之不读。而现在，它们可以被购买、被切割、被扫描并转化为数据。这一令人不安的过程便是 Anthropic 的“巴拿马项目”（Project Panama）。该公司计划收购大量实体书，拆除装订，将页面数字化并丢弃原书。在公司内部，该项目被描述为“我们旨在破坏性地扫描世界上所有书籍的尝试”。
这种局面是：公众可能拥有书架，但一家私营公司却拥有基于这些内容训练出的智能。
这场争议不仅仅在于纸质书是否可以被切割，也不仅仅关乎版权。它提出了一个根本性的问题：当世界的文字遗产日益被机器吞噬时，会发生什么？
AI 承诺让阅读变得更简单。它能在几秒钟内翻译难懂的段落、解释陌生概念、对比书籍、回答研究查询并提供摘要。在教育领域，它扮演着导师、翻译员、考官、课程规划师和研究助理的角色。它可以让偏远学校的孩子获得曾经只有那些拥有昂贵补习资源的学生才能接触到的资源。
然而，机器在执行阅读的信息处理部分越高效，人类就越有可能放弃那些最初让阅读变得有价值的认知工作。问题在于，AI 究竟是会帮助人们读得更好，还是会让阅读变得不再必要。
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教育的捷径
在教育中的作用令人瞩目，尤其是在教育资源匮乏的情况下。
中国的科大讯飞（iFLYTEK）是一个具有启发性的例子。在浙江省开化县，一所仅有 6 个班级、72 名学生的学校，将名师的在线课程与当地教师以及 辅助学习相结合。在西藏自治区， 教学系统和数字化课程正被用于将学生与他们孤立环境之外的教育资源连接起来。其前提很简单：技术可以部分弥补教师和教育资源在地理分布上的差距。
该公司的智能测评系统负责收集试卷、辅助评分、保存原卷并分析学生的学习模式。其指导原则耐人寻味：“ 处理对错；教师处理好坏。”
该公司的“虚拟科学家”将这一理念进一步深化。它不再简单地给学生一个答案，而是通过启发式提问和视觉问题链，鼓励学生独立解决问题。一个只会说“答案是 X”的 导师节省了时间；而一个会问“你为什么认为答案是 X？”的 导师则在进行教育。
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是教育还是告知
李洋 / 中国日报
AI在教育领域的潜力与最深层的风险在此交汇。这项能为偏远学校的孩子带来世界级课程的技术，同时也可能中介该孩子对世界的理解。那个帮助人们发现被遗忘书籍的算法，可以影响哪些被遗忘的书籍被“重新发现”，而哪些可见的书籍则陷入默默无闻。那个耐心地解释难懂概念的AI导师，也可能成为默认的权威。
学校有动力尝试AI，因为它能节省教师的时间，并给学生提供更快速的答案。但问题在于，这种效率恰恰使教育应当教授的技能变得不再必要。
在2024年由Huettig和康奈尔大学心理学教授莫滕·克里斯蒂安森（Morten Christiansen）共同撰写的一篇论文中，作者认为，大语言模型可能会加剧读写能力的下降，但如果能批判性地使用，且教育系统鼓励高效互动而非被动消费，它也能提供支持。他们得出结论，读写能力的未来过于重要，不能完全交给科技公司。
最后一点至关重要。问题在于谁在塑造AI与人类智能之间的关系。如果AI成为人与知识之间的中介，那么关于训练数据、检索、推荐、排名、审核和答案生成的决策，将塑造知识的架构。以前的图书管理员指向书架；现在算法决定从书架上取走什么。而且，它不需要进行显式的筛选就能行使这种权力，排名就足够了。
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让读者留在房间里
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阅读机器的局限
这一切并非在主张将 AI 排除在教育之外。相反，科大讯飞的案例证明了 AI 在教育中具有正当的作用。它扩大了接触教师的机会，减少了常规工作，分析学习模式，并为教育资源匮乏地区的学生提供帮助。
阅读艰深的书籍效率低下，而这恰恰是其意义所在。严肃的阅读者不仅仅是吸收结论。他们会陷入迷茫，重复阅读段落，与作者产生分歧，改变解读方式，有时甚至发现最初的问题本身就是误导性的。
荷兰奈梅亨马克斯·普朗克心理语言学研究所的高级研究员法尔克·胡廷（Falk Huettig）多年来一直研究读写能力如何影响认知。他在 2026 年出版的著作《成为书虫的益处》（The Perks of Being a Bookworm）中综合了相关研究，表明阅读塑造了记忆、注意、语言处理和推理能力，这远远超出了获取事实知识的范畴。在最近的一次采访中，胡廷警告学生不要依赖 AI 摘要。他表示，AI 的浓缩内容虽然可以提供事实，但它剔除了语言结构和复杂性，而读者正是通过这些结构和复杂性来锻炼工作记忆和抽象思维的。他警告说，避开复杂的文本意味着错过了重要的认知训练形式。
这就是为什么《战争与和平》的摘要不等同于《战争与和平》。问题不仅仅在于列夫·托尔斯泰的字数。阅读一部长篇小说需要记住人物、持有相互冲突的观点、察觉讽刺、容忍模棱两可，并逐渐构建意义。摘要提供了目的地，却省去了旅程。
“虚拟科学家”或许提供了最好的模型：AI 不应总是提供答案，而应促使学生更深入地思考。同样的原则也应适用于阅读。AI 可以阐明艰深的文本而非取代它们，挑战学生的论点而非代写论点，推荐来源而非成为来源，并揭示相互竞争的解读而非将其扁平化为一个完美的答案。
北京大学历史学家赵东梅将阅读比作“搜索”：带着问题进入一本书，并面对证据、论点和矛盾。北京大学文化研究者戴锦华则主张“先读厚再读薄”——在将文本简化为几个结论之前，先理解其知识、历史和文学网络。
AI 擅长产出“薄”的内容。它可以将 500 页的内容浓缩成 500 字、50 字或五个要点。这很有用，但如果一种文化总是选择那五个要点，最终可能会忘记为什么那 500 页内容至关重要。
缺乏练习，技能就会萎缩。如果学生从不构建论点、不记忆复杂的叙事、不在艰深的段落中苦苦钻研，或不从零开始构建句子，他们虽然能完成作业，但在支撑这些作业的认知活动方面可能会变得不再熟练。
其区别在于“辅助”与“替代”。当学生在阅读完一个艰深的章节后请求 AI 解释时，AI 可以深化理解。而当学生请求 AI 完全替代该章节时，教育交易就发生了变化。机器不再仅仅是辅助阅读，而是完成了阅读。
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从阅读到鹦鹉学舌
当人工智能进入注意力经济时，问题变得更加复杂。以字节跳动的 TikTok 和抖音为例。算法平台既能鼓励阅读，也能削弱阅读。TikTok 的 #BookTok 社区在书籍发掘方面是一股重要力量。根据 TikTok 援引的 NielsenIQ BookData 和 Media Control 的数据，2025 年在欧洲主要市场，由 #BookTok 社区推荐的图书销量超过 5000 万 本。在受访市场中，16 至 39 岁的受访者中，有超过三分之一的人通过该平台发现了新书。
这是算法阅读乐观的一面。一名青少年看到一段关于某部小说的视频并将其购买。一次推荐开启了一扇门。但另一种可能性是：推荐本身变成了体验。
书籍变成了情节。小说变成了情感反应。哲学变成了“五大教训”。历史被简化为戏剧性的轶事。在读者形成观点之前，一部艰深的作品就已经被预先解读了。
AI 放大这种压缩。既然聊天机器人可以解释，为什么还要读原书？既然模型可以总结争论，为什么还要审查证据？既然机器能提供流畅的解读，为什么还要在模糊性中苦苦挣扎？这导致了“伪阅读”：一种在没有阅读体验的情况下，感觉自己获取了书籍知识的错觉。
丹麦技术大学的认知科学家苏内·莱曼（Sune Lehmann）划定了一道清晰的界限。谈到 AI 生成的文学作品时，他表示：“我不希望阅读任何由 撰写的内容。就这么简单。”原因不仅仅是技术性的。对他而言，小说和诗歌是与另一个人类建立联系、进入由他人创造的世界的方式。人们可能会不同意莱曼的个人界限，但他的观点强调了阅读不仅仅是信息，它是一次邂逅。但接下来的问题是，当 成为主流的内容创作者时，你如何判断你的邂逅对象是 还是人类？
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新的教育不平等
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算法决定你阅读什么
关键在于，算法现在已成为人们获取信息的底层基础设施的一部分。传统的图书馆为读者提供书架；搜索引擎提供一个排序列表；推荐算法则提供一个个性化的信息流。而生成式AI系统则更进一步：它在不打开原件的情况下直接提供解读。算法不需要强加思想，它只需要影响什么内容首先出现即可。
AI可以弥补差距，但也会制造新的分歧。一个显而易见的分歧是准入权限：谁拥有电脑、可靠的网络连接和AI订阅账号。一个更微妙的分歧则是能力：谁能够批判性地使用AI。
如果一本书被推荐了10次，而另一本仅被推荐一次，平台并没有禁用第二本书。如果某种解读在每次搜索中都名列前茅，而另一种解读被埋在好几页之后，也没有人禁止第二种解读。然而，用户的认知环境已经改变了。AI通过将“推荐”与“解读”合二为一，强化了这种影响。模型不再仅仅说“你可能会喜欢这本书”，而是可能会说“这本书的意思是这样的”。这是一种更深层次的中介作用。
鲁汶大学（KU Leuven）的教育学教授奥尔汉·阿吉尔达格（Orhan Agirdag）引入了“提示词素养”（prompting literacy）这一概念来描述这种新能力。阿吉尔达格借鉴法国社会学家皮埃尔·布尔迪厄（Pierre Bourdieu）的“语言资本”概念，认为提示词熟练程度的差异可能会复制教育不平等。这不仅仅关乎如何写出更好的提示词，而是一种作为社会分布技能的、与AI进行有效且批判性互动的能力。
学生应当在请求摘要之前阅读一个困难的章节；相应地，AI在提供自己的解读之前，应当先征求学生的解读。然后，学生可以将AI的解释与原文进行对比，找出哪些内容发生了偏移。同样，教师可以要求学习者面对矛盾的论点，而不是让机器将它们统一化。因此，最好的教育AI可能是那个知道何时不应让学习变得轻而易举的AI。
tion。而另一个学生则简单地输入：“帮我写篇论文。”两者都拥有AI，但受到的教育并不相同。
这创造了一种奇特的等级制度。一名学生将AI视为辩论伙伴，在请求模型挑战其假设、识别漏洞并构建相反的解读之前，独立撰写一篇论文——
这种区别至关重要，因为AI能让第二种方法看起来很成功。其结果可能润色得体且看似合理，从而让学生获得高分。但教育应当培养的认知过程却被外包了。AI素养必须意味着不仅仅是操作一个聊天机器人，它还必须包括知道何时不使用它。
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谁拥有未来的图书馆
这让我们回到了“巴拿马项目”（Project Panama）。该事件最耐人寻味的一点不在于 Anthropic 想要书籍，而在于它在寻求由人类创作的高质量文本。随着 AI 生成的内容在互联网上广泛传播，基于先前模型输出结果进行训练将面临递归污染的风险。因此，人类撰写的书籍成为了相对稳定的语言、论点和知识储备库。有些人将 2022 年之后撰写的文本称为“AI 污染文本”。
这改变了图书馆的范式。几个世纪以来，图书馆收集书籍是为了让人们阅读。而在 AI 经济中，书籍变成了开发私有系统的输入数据。
法律问题比文化问题更为狭窄。在一场美国版权诉讼中，一名法官裁定，Anthropic 利用合法获取的书籍训练模型可能属于“合理使用”，而获取涉嫌盗版书籍则是另一个独立问题。随后，Anthropic 就盗版作品支付了 15 亿美元 billion 的结算金。
合法性并不等同于文化智慧。一本书在法律上可以被销毁，但依然具有文化价值。一本实体书包含的不止是文字，它还拥有出处、边注、排版、插图、所有权标记以及读者的历史。大多数书籍并不稀有，但学者无法预测哪一个被遗忘的版本、哪本晦涩的小册子或哪一条边注会在未来变得至关重要。
数字化保存了信息，但改变了访问控制。当数百万本书籍成为私有模型的养料时，公共图书馆经历了一场显著的转-
这一原则也提供了一种理解“巴拿马项目”的方式。最深层的担忧在于，当巨大的文化资源成为私有控制系统的输入，进而影响社会其他成员接触知识的方式时，会发生什么。
几个世纪以来，知识是通过一长串人类活动产生的：阅读、写作、争论、教学、编辑、出版、评论和记忆。AI 现在正进入这条链条的每一个环节。它可以阅读、总结、推荐、解读，甚至能根据从数百万本书中吸收的内容来写一本书。
而且，算法决定了数百万人们最有可能接触到什么样的知识。到那时，问题就变成了谁在控制人类与知识之间的算法，因为其训练数据、排名机制和解读优先级并不一定是透明的。
这才是 AI 控制知识生产的真正风险。危险不在于一个机器人坐在图书馆里禁止人们翻书，而是一种更安静的方式。人们可能依然能够接触到世界上每一本书——但越来越多地通过经过刻意设计的过滤器，以摘要、推荐和解读的形式来接触这些书。
没有东西被禁，没有东西被焚，没有东西被正式筛选。但从原始文本到人类大脑的路径增加了一个新的把关人。“巴拿马项目”为这种转变提供了一个强有力的隐喻：实体书被切割，以便机器能更高效地吸收其内容。接下来的问题是，人类读者是否也会以同样的方式逐渐被剔除出这个过程。
AI 应该帮助我们读更多书，而不是代替我们阅读。它应该帮助我们提出更好的问题，而不是消除提问的需求。它应该扩大人们获取知识的渠道，而不是成为定义知识含义的最终权威。
普及识字最初的承诺是将知识交给普通人。AI 时代可以在极大的规模上实现这一承诺——或者在人们依赖机器来决定哪些知识重要、意味着什么以及值得关注时，悄悄地逆转这一进程。
答案应当是确保人类继续阅读、质疑、比较和分歧。
“月季医生”让中国之花绽放世界
5月10日，一名主播在江苏省常熟市的天朗月季园进行晚间直播。在线销售在入夜后达到顶峰，直播往往会持续到次日凌晨。摄影：于萍 / 中国日报
5月1日，一名外国月季专家在天朗月季园欣赏盛开的中国月季。
右图：5月10日，一名员工在天朗月季园为中国月季进行人工授粉。人工授粉是一项技术性工作，要求员工早出晚归，以便在约一个月内完成整个过程。
“月季爱好者们，早上好！我是天朗。今天，我要向大家介绍几个新品种……”在中国东部江苏省常熟市中景村，天朗月季园的所有者江正志用他标志性的东北口音与直播间的粉丝聊天。
“筛选品种、授粉、促销以及接待来自全国各地的专家——这是今年最忙的时候，”江正志说。他的工作日从早上7点开始，随后他会前往占地1,000亩（66.67公顷）的育种基地。
18年前，江正志将以“Langrosa”品牌运营的月季种植业务从中国东北迁至常熟，并创立了花冠园创园艺科技有限公司。该公司目前拥有200多名员工，保存了8,000多种月季种质资源，并拥有250多个自主培育的中国月季（Rosa chinensis）品种的知识产权。
“从东北搬到江南地区让我们离客户更近了。虽然这里闷热多雨的气候对种植者来说极具挑战，但商业环境很好。当地政府竭尽全力帮助企业克服困难，”江正志说。
江正志被誉为“月季医生”，他是一名在土地上成长起来的自学专家。他培育的中国月季品种在多次世界月季大会上获得了认可。
该公司已与7家国际育种公司建立了技术研发合作伙伴关系，并向澳大利亚、印度和新加坡等国家销售了20多万盆中国月季品种。
“我们希望我们培育的月季能更加环保，为从业者带来更高的回报，并激励更多年轻的‘新农人’对农业的未来产生热情，”自认为心态年轻的江正志说道。
在谈到未来时，江正志微笑着说：“中国月季在18世纪就风靡全球。我希望我们这一代人能让世界在中国月季的绽放中变得更加绚丽。”
中国日报
5月10日，江正志在天朗月季园面对镜头发言。他在多个网络平台上每日发布月季养护技巧，拥有超过600万粉丝。
左图：5月1日，一名外国专家在天朗月季园品鉴中国月季新品种“青梦”所散发出的柠檬与玫瑰混合香气。
5月10日，村民们在常熟一个采用低维护种植方法的设施中摘除中国月季的花蕾。该园每年为100多名当地村民提供包括修剪和花艺在内的季节性工作，有助于增加家庭收入。
趋势
作者：李鸿扬（LI HONGYANG）
lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn
站在重庆奉节县长江之上的赤甲山顶——这里在唐朝（618-907年）被称为夔州——陈香颖终于明白了为什么伟大诗人杜甫虽然在那里仅生活了大约一年九个月，却创作了数百首诗篇。
她此行并非仅仅作为一名游客，而是作为一名读者，追随中国古典诗歌的地理足迹而来。
陈香颖，一名来自陕西省延安的39岁大学古代文学讲师，表示实地走访读过的地点，与在书中阅读的感觉完全不同。
“当我真正到达那里时，感觉非常不一样。杜甫的诗句突然在我面前呈现。他写道：‘赤甲白岩峰，双耸直插云霄’。这时我才明白杜甫为什么写那些诗，”陈香颖说。
陈香颖的经历是中国国内旅游市场一个更广泛转变的一部分：越来越多的城市居民不再追求特大城市和热门古镇，而是转向县级目的地，寻找未经雕琢的自然景观、鲜活的文化记忆以及更慢的生活节奏。
今年8月，陈香颖和一名朋友前往重庆奉节县和巫山县旅行。
“它们是小县城，但文化积淀极其深厚。不仅是杜甫，像李白和白居易这样的诗人也曾经过此处并为其作诗，”她说。
同样令她动容的是一种跨越时间的错觉。
“街道看起来还像20世纪90年代或21世纪初的样子。一瞬间你就回到了童年。这里与上海或北京完全不同。在这里，你依然能看到过去，包括老餐馆、老建筑和有故事的地方。”
在这些县城里，陈香颖注意到她遇到的网约车司机似乎真的很满足。
“他们没有那么疲惫，不像大城市的司机。一位司机热情地与我们分享了一些当地知识，让我们得以窥见当地的日常生活，”她说。
“小餐馆的老板们干活利索且心情愉快。我们会观察当地人点什么，然后点同样的菜。”
但县城的节奏并非城市节奏。如果游客错过了用餐时间，可能就没东西吃了。例如，当地著名的包子在上午 9 点就售罄了，她说道。
“我度过了一段美好的时光，而且吃得很好。这里值得一去，不是因为食宿便宜，而是因为体验真实。”
巫山博物馆呈现当地历史的方式也给她留下了深刻印象。
展览从火车站开始，这对该县具有特殊意义。
其中一个展厅专门介绍巫山的新高铁站。
“巫山以前没有火车站。现在有了高铁。人们对此感到由衷的自豪。他们甚至建了一个模拟火车车厢，游客可以走进去拍照。”
博物馆还展示了巫山的史前考古遗址，这对于外地游客来说可能是陌生的。
“令人印象深刻，”陈香颖说。
随着游客日益远离拥挤的大城市景点，转而追求节奏更慢、更原汁原味的体验，中国各地的县城正成为国家旅游市场的主要增长引擎。
根据中国旅游协会的一份报告，2026, 上半年，县级目的地的非本地消费同比增长 14.1%。
这一趋势是由中国旅行者所称的“宝藏小镇”和“县城游”驱动的，今年夏天对此类度假地的搜索量激增。
根据去哪儿（Qunar）公司的数据，今年暑假，在旅行预订平台去哪儿上，热门目的地的“县城游”搜索量同比增长 110%。
例如，以女性文化和独特传统服饰著称的福建省惠安县，报告称游客人数有所增加。
据当地媒体报道，2026年前六个月，惠安县接待游客约289 万人次，同比增长5.7%。
据该县政府数据显示，今年前七个月，浙江省安吉县接待游客约2160 万人次，实现旅游收入超过300 亿美元元（44.7 亿美元 billion）。
安吉的吸引力首先源于其自然环境。该县表示，全县70%以上面积被森林覆盖，竹林在景观中延伸，茶园散布在山坡之间。
这些例子表明，县域旅游的吸引力可以是如此多样。这种吸引力也可以在县域生活的更微小、更日常的细节中找到。
对于来自北京的傅冰钦来说，他在河南省北部太行山深处的县级市林州市所遇到的价格，不仅仅是星-
7月23日，在四川省甘孜州道孚县海拔3,800米的于课草原，游客们观看一项非物质文化遗产舞蹈表演。县级旅游目的地的日益普及吸引了越来越多的人来到该地区，同时数百名社交媒体博主对表演进行直播，让超过100万人能够远距离体验高原非物质文化遗产的魅力。李向宇 / 中国日报
乡村公路，带我回家
价格便宜得惊人。这是他意识到自己进入了一个不同于以往的中国的第一个信号。
三个馒头一块五元。一碗酸辣汤两元。
傅先生骑摩托车游历了包括林州市在内的多个地方，他表示，县级目的地提供了独特文化、山水风光和建筑遗产的迷人结合。
林州市拥有极具吸引力的组合：红旗渠——在20世纪60年代由约100,000人主要靠手工建成，如今已成为他们坚定意志的象征；太行山壮丽的峡谷与峭壁；以及该市作为中国“建筑之乡”的身份。
“我们不只是路过，我们想更深入地了解一个地方，”傅先生说。
“有一天晚上我们出去吃饭，偶然发现一条开满了麻将馆的街道。每个人都在里面打牌，整个生活节奏和人们的精神面貌感觉完全不同。说实话，我很羡慕。”
“这里没有匆忙，也没有那种在下班走出地铁的人脸上经常看到的疲惫和空洞感。街道充满了日常生活浓郁的风味和温暖。人们似乎吃得好，玩得好，真正地在享受生活，”他说。
傅先生说，如今很难看到未经过翻新的20世纪80年代建筑。但在县级小地方，过去依然存在，给人一种怀旧的感觉。
这些地方很多曾一度繁荣。随后人口减少，城镇化的速度没有大城市那么快。
傅先生在4月将摩托车运往河南省郑州市，随后与骑友们一起开启了为期一周的太行山之旅。
林州市只是沿途的一站。行程从郑州出发前往河北省邯郸市，随后团队乘火车返回北京。
这次旅程让傅先生对县域旅游产生了一些实际的想法。
他的建议很简单：在繁忙地段部署交通警察，并建设更好的酒店。
“县域旅游依赖于良好的住宿条件。如果人们有舒适的住处，他们会停留更久，”他说。
中国旅游研究院副院长马一亮表示，县域旅游的增长反映了人们对独特体验的渴望。
“如今，旅行者越来越被县级目的地所吸引，那里的旅游服务尚不发达，整体体验远非精致。游客会感觉到时间被拉长，自然而然地慢下来，进入一种放松、不匆忙的状态。”
“与此同时，这些县城保留了更多未被过度商业化的真实空间和传统，给人一种真正的生命力，”他说。
不过，马一亮表示，除了品牌建设，还应在改善公共服务和提升旅游质量方面做出更多努力，使游客被县级文化旅游的真实魅力所吸引。
同时，他补充道，应进一步优化营商环境，吸引更多市场主体参与开发县级当地旅游。
越来越多的城市游客选择避开热门景点，寻找原始之地、真实体验和慢节奏的生活。
上图：9月4日，游客在湖北省宣恩县宫水河畔观看舞蹈表演。该县举办了一场传统民族体育赛事，运动员在参加各项比赛的同时，还进行了一系列展示非物质文化遗产的表演，吸引了大批游客。宋文 / 新华社 下图：8月28日，游客在甘肃省敦煌市鸣沙山月牙泉景区骑骆驼欣赏沙漠风光。张晓亮 / 中国日报
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小城镇与乡村地区吸引游客
根据中国旅游协会发布的一份报告，县级目的地已成为今年上半年中国旅游市场的主要增长驱动力。
报告称，来自中国领先的电子商务和本地服务平台美团的数据显示，县域地区外地游客的消费额同比增长14.1%，单笔平均消费达到58元（8.64美元），比当地居民高出约50%。
报告还强调了所谓“宝藏小镇”之旅和“县城跳岛”行程的流行。春节假期期间，安徽省首批11个指定的宝藏小镇（包括歙县和休宁县）的游客人数同比增长26.5%，旅游消费增长28.2%，两项指标均高于全省平均水平。
其他地区的县级目的地也通过现场娱乐和独特的当地体验吸引游客。例如，广西壮族自治区的南丹县发展起了一套繁荣的表演场景，有助于让这个知名度较低的目的地获得更多关注。在广东省，一项乡村发展计划提升了人们对古村落、荔枝园和沿海露营地之旅的兴趣。
交通网络的改善也推动了县域旅游的发展。报告称，新开通的高速公路消除了前往偏远景点的准入障碍，有助于引导越来越多的游客前往这些地方。
与此同时，文化和旅游部已指导113个县开展试点项目，旨在通过文化产业支持乡村振兴。该部门正在鼓励一系列规模虽小但具有特色的旅游产品，从农耕研学游到自驾露营和民俗体验，同时提高季节性乡村旅游路线的质量。
该部表示，将继续扩大旅游消费场景，确保小城市和县城依然是中国旅游市场中充满活力的组成部分。
中国旅游研究院副院长马以亮表示，县域地区不必依赖高等级景区或星级酒店来吸引游客。一个在网上走红的场景、事件或故事也可以转化为现实中的游客。
“随着许多旅游目的地的发展，它们变得越来越相似——拥有类似的步行街、仿古镇、旅游表演和主题公园——游客的体验在某种程度上被稀释了，”他说道。“县级旅游的设施可能较为简陋，但它能提供更独特且更全面的体验，这就是为什么它能吸引这么多旅行者的原因。”
李洪阳（LI HONGYANG）
机器人保险正成为不可逆转的趋势
灵活的政策涵盖设计缺陷、安装及操作错误；可作为应对任何财务损失的对冲手段
Aug 25. 在北京举行的第二届世界人形机器人大赛中，一名机器人在100米赛跑中摔倒。越来越多的保险公司开始为机器人硬件和运行风险提供承保。邹红 / 中国日报
Aug 25. 在第二届世界人形机器人大赛中，一名机器人在100米赛跑中摔倒，维护团队成员使用担架将其移走。LINTAO ZHANG / 盖蒂图片社
作者：李佳颖 (LI JIAYING)
lijiaying@chinadaily.com.cn
在9月13日闭幕的北京中国国际服务贸易交易会上，一只机器人手配备了一件不寻常的配件——一份保险单。
Y-Hand M2旨在模拟人类手的灵活性，现已将保险纳入其工作必需品。其开发商——总部位于北京的跃全仿生科技有限公司在活动期间与中国太平洋保险（集团）股份有限公司的财产险分支机构签署了保险协议，为该机器人手及其可能造成的任何损失提供承保。
其逻辑很简单。“如果在运行或存储过程中，因事故或自然灾害导致机器人手损坏，该保单将提供赔付。它还涵盖由设计、安装或材料缺陷，以及操作员错误所造成的损失，”该保险公司北京分公司的一名工作人员周艾表示。
周艾表示，这种保护范围不仅限于机器人手本身，还包括在使用过程中对第三方造成的人身伤害或财产损失。她补充道，该产品在具身智能机器人的关键零部件领域实现了行业首创。
在这些文书工作的背后，隐藏着任何购买昂贵高科技设备的人都会有的共同担忧——如果坏了怎么办？特别是对于人形机器人和其他能够与人类进行现实世界交互的新兴物理AI形式，这种担忧不仅限于机器本身，还延伸到了周围的人员和财产。
事实上，保险公司已经开始提供解决方案，承保范围涵盖单个组件、租赁机器以及原厂保修期已届满的机器人。
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当保修期届满
问题始于零件的磨损以及保修期的到期。
“智能机器人的核心精密部件磨损相对较快（与其他物理AI终端产品相比），而制造商的保修期则有限，”中国人民财产保险股份有限公司（PICC）北京分公司技术保险分中心负责人陈建表示。
陈建说：“一旦设备超出保修期，维修和更换零件的费用将变得昂贵，这在一定程度上制约了该行业的扩张和商业化。”
上个月成立的北京智能机器人保险联盟旨在填补这一空白。该联盟汇集了人保财险北京分公司及其他几家保险公司，其首份保单聚焦于制造商原厂保修期届满后的设备故障，提供包括维修和更换保障在内的服务。
对于制造商而言，这种安排可以支持其提供延长保修的承诺，而无需独自承担未来维修的所有不确定性。陈建表示，对于客户而言，这有助于解决原厂保证结束之后维持机器运行的成本问题。
他说：“这有助于机器人制造商减轻延长保修带来的财务压力和运营风险，改善售后服务，并增强产品的竞争力。同时，它也能帮助使用机器人的买家消除维护顾虑，降低试用成本，并加速机器人技术在实际场景中的部署。”
该方案将售后支持置于保险主张的核心：制造商需要对其销售的产品进行维护，而客户则需要确信，一旦发生故障，不会面临难以负担的维修或更换费用。
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按日计费的保险
对于那些只需要机器人执行特定任务而非将其作为永久运营资产的企业来说，租赁提供了一种在无需承诺购买的情况下利用该技术的方法。因此，保险也开始适应这种灵活性，推出了针对短期聘用以及在不同客户之间流动的机器而量身定制的保单。
例如，中国太平洋保险（集团）股份有限公司（CPIC）针对商业人形机器人应用设计的“机智宝”产品，允许客户按日、周或月购买保险，使保障期限与任务时长相匹配。
此外，人保财险自2025年12月起与机器人租赁平台Sharebot合作，提供针对机器损坏及第三方责任的承保，且保单中不强制要求在中国大陆境内有固定经营地址——这一条款适应了机器人在不同客户和场地之间移动的情况。
这一商业机遇得到了强劲市场表现的支持。根据iiMedia Research的数据，中国机器人租赁市场在2025年规模约为10 亿美元元（1.49亿美元），预计今年将突破100 亿美元元，年增长率超过900%。对于服务于该市场的租赁运营商而言，每次预订的经济效益部分取决于如何管理事故可能带来的维修账单和责任索赔。
在平台层面，承保规模已初见端倪。Sharebot表示，截至4月24日，其平台上有超过1,000台机器人投保，累计保额超过2 亿元。据国内媒体报道，该平台购买的年度保单保费通常为每台机器人数千元。
“具身智能机器人保险是机器人租赁商业模式可行的前提。它不仅仅是一份保单，更是行业基础设施的重要组成部分，连接着保险公司、机器人制造商、服务提供商、合作伙伴和终端客户，”该机器人租赁平台首席执行官李一言表示，“对我们而言，平台上的每台机器人必须投保并纳入我们的风险管理体系。”
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为未知风险定价
制定保单需要对尚未发生的损失进行估算。对于进入机器人领域的保险公司而言，可供评估参考的过往先例相对较少。
中国社会科学院金融研究所研究员郭金龙指出，由于缺乏公开的风险数据库，导致新兴风险难以量化；同时，产品标准化程度低且成本高昂，使得保险覆盖范围难以与客户需求相匹配。
郭金龙表示：“从对单台机器进行临时性投保，转向通过租赁安排对批量机器人进行承保，可以帮助保险公司利用实际使用数据来克服数据壁垒和碎片化需求。”
他补充说，通过汇总租赁平台和运行环境的数据，保险公司及其合作伙伴可以共同开发能够更精准捕捉风险的模型，从而支持动态定价和实时风险管理。这将有助于完善传统上依赖制造商数据和过往经验的定价方法。
确定责任是另一个挑战。当开发商、制造商、租赁公司、用户和算法提供商共同参与时，责任界定可能难以理清，尤其是在缺乏专门法规和司法先例的情况下。
在这方面，财团（consortium）可以为保险公司提供一个共同分担风险和共同开发服务的框架。
中国人民财产保险公司（PICC）的陈先生表示：“这让多家保险公司共同参与一项业务，否则承保压力将全部落在一家公司身上。”
北京智能机器人保险财团目前的业务已延伸至设备故障时的维修和更换安排。陈先生表示，通过将财务保障与售后支持相结合，这种共享模式有助于解决延保业务中的风险集中问题，以及提供此类保障时的实际操作困难。
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构建持久市场
政府措施正开始解决保险市场双端的现有障碍，在帮助保险公司构建评估和定价风险所需数据的同时，也降低了购买保险的企业成本。
今年3月，包括科学技术部和国家金融监督管理总局在内的四个中央部门发布了鼓励开展具身智能专项保险的措施。这些措施呼吁制定示范条款，加强数据积累和差异化定价，并在风险重大且分散程度不足的特定技术领域建立专业保险池。
“它系统地回答了为谁承保、承保什么以及如何承保，”郭先生表示，并补充说，他们还通过建立部门间的协调机制，解决了保单碎片化的问题。
郭先生还强调了关于保险公司分担重大风险、整合承保能力的规定，以及旨在吸引小型科技公司进入保险市场的更简单、更实惠的产品。
此外，地方性措施正在降低投保成本。浙江省宁波市为符合条件的企业提供人形机器人应用保险补贴，补贴额最高可达保费的80 percent，上限为200 万 yuan。该政策于2025年7月生效，有效期至2027年底。
在其他地区，浙江省杭州市于5月1起实施了一项关于具身智能机器人的条例，鼓励开发适合该行业的保险产品，并在研发、生产、销售和应用环节实现市场化的风险分担。上海的科技保险指导意见也将人形机器人列为定制化保护的领域。
“在持续的政策支持和不断扩大的行业需求驱动下，科技保险规模在增长，产品范围在扩大，支撑生态系统在深化，且区域形式日益多样化，”郭先生说。
这一努力是中国在技术创新保护领域更广泛扩张的一部分，相关政策已延伸至研发支出、新技术商业化以及知识产权保护。
南开大学金融与发展研究院院长田立辉预计，这些措施将改变保护机制的交付方式。田立辉表示，他看到了从“被动理赔”向“主动支持”的转变，保险公司将在损失发生前帮助企业管理并降低风险。
根据国家金融监督管理总局（NFRA）的数据，2025, 中国科技保险业提供了约8 trillion yuan的承保额，保费收入同比增长44 percent，这为目前针对机器人及其零部件制定的政策提供了坚实基础。
田立辉还预见到将从“单打独斗”转向“生态协作”，因为保险池和共享数据平台将帮助供应商解决定价难题。
展望未来，对于一家投入机器人运行的企业来说，这些变化可能会在实际层面体现出来：例如是否有合适的保险可供选择，保费是否可负担，以及在提出理赔时，受损机器的评估效率如何。
“吧唧”热潮兴起，重新定义文化收藏
作者：李佳颖（LI JIAYING）
今天心仪的角色，明天变成宠物：小屏幕正为中国的徽章收藏者提供一种表达喜爱的新方式，同时也在测试这类收藏的情感吸引力在多大程度上可以被数字化。
“吧唧”（Baji）一词源自英语单词“badge”，经由日语引入，通常指印有动漫、漫画、游戏及泛流行文化角色的金属小胸针。它们经常被装饰在包袋上，是“谷子经济”的一部分，而“谷子经济”涵盖了源自动漫、游戏、小说及其他知识产权（IP）的周边商品。
传统的吧唧承载的是固定图像，而电子版则用一个小屏幕取代了印刷表面，允许用户切换图像、动画或短视频。部分产品还兼具相机监视器、遥控器或其他智能配件的功能，而更新的模型则在尝试虚拟宠物和人工智能交互。
各大消费电子品牌已加入这个快速扩张的利基市场。Oppo售价499元（$74.5）的Bubble采用了1.73英寸屏幕，支持照片、实况照片和短视频，同时可作为具有无线预览功能的后置摄像头自拍监视器。荣耀售价599元的Magic Mini Screen将可自定义的显示屏与照片预览、远程拍摄和补光功能相结合。Insta360则采取了不同的路线，在其Mic Pro无线麦克风上配备了彩色电子墨水屏，标准零售价起售价为698元。
独立通信与互联网分析师马继华表示：“制造商正从一次性的硬件销售转向培养客户终身价值。”
马继华认为，电子吧唧不仅仅是硬件——壁纸、皮肤和AI角色等数字内容可以持续销售，从而帮助公司构建更广泛的品牌生态系统。
这些产品的出现，正值技术品牌寻求在传统硬件规格之外，与年轻消费者建立联系的新方式。根据市场咨询公司iiMedia Research的数据，中国的谷子经济在2025, 达到2021 亿美元元，同比增长20 percent，预计到2029年将超过3000 亿美元元。
对于一些用户来说，其吸引力恰恰在于用一个可更换的屏幕取代一堆实物收藏品。一名社交媒体用户表示，她在搬家时，徽章收藏品填满了三个盒子。有了电子吧唧，她只需手指轻点即可切换图片或动画，同时在参加动漫展时无需承受实物徽章的重量，也不必担心损坏。
另一位用户在屏幕上加载了她爱犬的照片，称这让她能够“带着我的小毛球去任何地方”——这证明了该产品可以作为个人数字纪念品，而非传统的粉丝周边。
然而，在图像、动画效果和短视频之间切换的灵活性，并不一定能复制收集实物徽章所带来的满足感。
一名消费者8月1.在浙江省义乌市一家销售数字配件和潮流玩具的商店购物时尝试使用电子吧唧。 SHI BUFA / FOR CHINA DAILY
一名评论者认为，为传统周边支付额外费用是为了获得同好之间的认可，也是支持官方发行的一种方式。就此而言，可更换的图像无法自动提供这两项益处。
马继华表示，传统吧唧的吸引力很大程度上在于其稀缺性以及收藏时带来的仪式感——而当形式变为数字化时，这些特质可能会被削弱。
“这款产品确实代表了传统徽章文化的升级和重塑，并且能创造一些额外价值。但对于大型消费电子品牌来说，期望它能带来大量新用户是不现实的，”马继华说道。
价格是另一个考量因素。品牌电子胸章的单价可能高达数百元，而提供基础图像和视频显示功能的通用版本售价则在100元左右或更低。
“如果这些产品不能持续提供情感价值并构建可持续的生态系统，其高昂的溢价可能会被视为是对年轻消费者的收割，从而削弱消费者对品牌配件的信任，”iiMedia Research首席执行官张毅表示。
惊叹之声日益填满天空
在繁星密布、银河仿佛倾泻而下的苍穹下，一对父子站在草原上，共同仰望着天空，心中充满敬畏。“太美了。我想再次回来这里看星星，”梁嘉诚说道。他与父亲从距离400公里的自治区首府呼和浩特出发，前往内蒙古自治区正乡白旗的明安图镇。
“这里和城市的星空完全不同，城市的灯光和雾霾模糊了星辰。在明安图，由于污染很少，璀璨的星光比我们在家乡看到的任何东西都要明亮，”父亲梁天说道。
白天，他们欣赏着点缀着牛羊的起伏草原。这对父子还参观了明安图观测站的射电望远镜，该观测站隶属于中国科学院国家空间科学中心。
在观测站附近的一个观星文化旅游营地，许多游客来到这里进行观星、天文摄影和研学之旅，尤其是在夏季的高峰月份。游客们躺在旋转躺椅上凝视星空，或者在配备有望远镜且屋顶可沿轨道滑动开启的房间里欣赏夜空。
“该地区具有极佳的天文观测条件：气候干燥、天空晴朗、污染低，是理想的观星地，”观星营地负责人梁华表示。该营地为当地村民提供兼职工作，而这些村民之前的收入依赖于畜牧业。
天文初学者可以在圆顶天文馆学习基础的天文学知识，那里通过模拟演示夜晚的天空以及星座随时间推移的演变。他表示，文化内容应当融入到观星体验中，并指出观星深深植根于中国传统文化之中，从中国占星术中的28宿到古代天文台均有体现。
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震撼于壮丽景观
明安图并非孤例。全国范围内，越来越多的目的地正将暗夜星空转化为旅游资源，将观星与自然风光、文化遗产、科普教育、研学旅行以及天文摄影相结合。
2019年，江西省格原镇被指定为中国暗夜星空保护区。近年来，来自周边城市的游客纷纷涌向格原的石桥村，欣赏自然风光，攀登米头尖峰，观赏风力发电机，徒步古道，观看日出日落并观星。
除了米头尖峰顶上的天文台，游客还可以在村里的一家高端民宿——次破恒风院观星。这里的路灯亮度较低且向下倾斜，最大限度地减少了光污染，使观星几乎不受影响。
“大多数游客很年轻，通常出生在20世纪90年代，他们会带着孩子一起来，”民宿经理邓克说道。该民宿雇佣当地村民，并从附近农场采购农产品，将观星旅游的收益惠及当地。邓克表示：“作为当地人，我在外学习工作多年，很久没真正看过星星了。在这里，你抬头就能看到童年时期的那片星空。”
在遥远的西北方向，新疆维吾尔自治区哈密市的翼龙-雅丹大海道景区，凭借其广袤且多样的风蚀雅丹地貌以及极低的光污染，成为了观星和天文摄影的理想之地。观星者可以在雅丹地貌之上捕捉到银河。天文摄影师将这些壮丽的地貌与天体主体相结合，创作出独一无二的照片。
每年，哈密的“星河私语”节都会吸引全国各地的天文摄影师和无人机摄影师，进一步巩固了哈密作为顶级观星目的地的声誉。
“璀璨的星群汇聚成银河，让我们想起古老的丝绸之路。大海道曾是丝绸之路的一条古道，当时的旅人和商人依靠星辰导航，”北京天文摄影师王君峰说道。他是中国星空视觉联盟（China StarVision Alliance）的联合创始人，该联盟是一个聚集了近1,000名中国天文摄影师的国内平台。
他表示，中国古人观察并研究天象，积累了大量与日常生活密切相关的文化知识。许多民间传统与星象模式有着深厚的联系。
“我们希望分享星空之美，在过程中提升自我，并帮助他人捕捉到理想的夜空影像。当我们看到人们凝视星光熠熠的天空，心中充满敬畏与兴奋时，这给了我们很大的鼓舞，”带领观星团出行的王君峰说道。
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天文摄影兴起
与此同时，一个快速增长的天文摄影群体正凭借其壮丽的照片，改变公众看待夜空的方式。中国星空视觉联盟（China StarVision Alliance）联合创始人姜晨明表示，天文摄影正在推动观星旅游的发展。
“一旦人们能够拍摄星空，他们就会希望更接近星空，并学习更多关于天文学的知识。这也扩大了天文摄影师和天文爱好者的群体，”他说道。
他指出，一个主要的催化剂是智能手机摄像头的快速提升。天文摄影曾需要高端专业相机，但现代手机的改进（包括更好的低光性能），使得普通人仅凭一部手机和一个三脚架就能捕捉到银河。
姜晨明表示，全国范围内的中国星空视觉联盟天文摄影师们通过发布最精美的星空照片，来提高公众对宇宙的认知。这些震撼的视觉效果激励公众走出户外，亲自观察星空。一旦游客到达观星地点，对住宿、餐饮和天文教育项目的需求就会激增。而这种需求反过来又吸引了支持旅游基础设施的投资。
“许多观星地最初并不是目的地。一名摄影师找到了一个角度，按下快门，让该地出名。随后，游客兴趣的增加促使当地政府和投资者建设景区和民宿。而接待条件的改善又吸引了更多的摄影师。”
姜晨明补充道，中国的观星旅游仍处于起步阶段，在经历了长期的孵化期后，其系统性的快速发展大约始于三年前。
然而，中国的优势十分独特：庞大的消费市场、与夜空相得益彰的多种地貌，以及深厚的中国星座文化。“目前最大的差距在于公众意识。鼓励更多的人抬头仰望是首要任务。”
记者徐林报道，通过更好的基础设施和惊艳的照片，旅行者们在选择下一次度假目的地时，开始将夜间目的地纳入考虑。
图下：新疆维吾尔自治区哈密翼龙雅丹大海道风景区上空的银河。图上：内蒙古自治区正镶白旗中国科学院国家空间科学中心明安图观测站上空的银河。摄影：刘兵 / 为《中国日报》拍摄
详细的城市指南为观星者提供答案
作者：XU LIN
想象一下，你想在自己的城市观星，但不知道去哪里，如何观测，每个季节能看到什么，或者向谁请教技巧。随着新出版的《中国观星指南》面世，这些担忧已成为过去。
该指南声称是国内首部根植于中国地理并基于一手信息的原创观星指南，其内容源自全国200多名天文摄影师和科学传播者三年的实地调研。
中国星空视觉联盟（CSVA）是一个聚集了近1,000名中国天文摄影师的国内平台，该联盟与人民邮电出版社合作编纂了这部指南。
该指南围绕困扰大多数观星初学者的三个问题展开：何时看、去哪里以及如何观测。
第一部分解释了每个季节夜空的特点。第二部分详细介绍了34个城市及其周边的500多个观星地点，通过一手观星信息和标注关键地点的手绘地图，帮助城市读者寻找理想地点。第三部分则是观测星空的分步指南，包含天文知识和实用技巧。
《中国观星指南》为初学者解答基础问题。由中国日报提供
根据该指南，北京市区最具标志性的观星地点之一是午门，即故宫的南门。在晴朗的夜晚，一旦建筑群的外部照明关闭，你就可以在午门上方看到许多明亮的星星。
对于北京郊区，指南推荐了昌平区的古长峪城村（附近有长城）以及门头沟区的百花山风景区（在山顶和山脚下均有观星机会）等地点。
本书的目标读者是城市居民，尤其是省会城市以及二三线城市的读者。
通过这本书，读者可以选择最合适的观星目的地和季节，并获得关于星空的基础知识，包括流星雨产生的原因。
书中收录的300多张在全国各地拍摄的天文照片，均由专业人员在现场拍摄，使这部观星指南成为了中国最美夜空的印刷展示窗。
“这部指南之所以如此宝贵，是因为它不是一个人对星空的想象，而是数百名天文摄影师、科学传播者和实地开拓者的共同努力，”中国科学院国家天文台研究员苟立军在书评中写道。
“拍摄星空的人、理解星空的人以及熟悉脚下土地的人第一次走到了一起。通过脚步、镜头和多年的耐心观察，他们绘制了全国500多个可验证的观星地点，告诉读者星星在哪里，何时观看以及如何观看。对于公众观星和天文教育来说，这是一部真正生长在中国土地和夜空下的指南，”苟立军写道。
CSVA联合创始人姜晨明表示，本书项目最困难的部分是信息收集。“书中列出了500多个观星地点，这意味着需要海量的一手详细信息。收集、核实、编辑和处理每个地点的所有信息非常耗时。”
假期体育
足球
齐达内、曼奇尼取得首场主场胜利
法国队与意大利队领跑欧国联A1组
上图：周一在意大利博洛尼亚举行的欧国联比赛中，里卡多·卡拉菲奥里跃起打入意大利队的第二粒进球。下图：周一在巴黎法兰西体育场举行的欧国联比赛中，法国队的迈克尔·奥利塞（11）与德西雷·杜埃庆祝打入球队的第三粒进球。美联社 / 路透社
周一，齐内丁·齐达内作为国家队主教练取得了首场主场胜利，法国队在比赛末段发力，以4-1击败比利时队。
在14分钟的密集进攻中，德西雷·杜埃、拉扬·谢尔基以及打入两球的迈克尔·奥利塞（三人均为替补登场）彻底扭转了局面。在此之前，法国队一直落后直到第77分钟。
“今晚这就是足球，这就是我们热爱的地方，”齐达内表示，“我们在上半场遇到了一些困难，但这是比赛的一部分；这种比赛时不时会发生。能够及时纠正错误——我们做到了这一点——并且我们成功打出了一个非凡的下半场，这很好。”
这场胜利巩固了法国队在A1组的领先地位，比同样以3-1击败土耳其队的意大利队高出3分。
排名第三的比利时队落后法国队4分。土耳其队目前积0分。
齐达内执掌Les Bleus之初取得了对阵土耳其和比利时两场胜利，但在上周五作为法国队主帅的首场主场比赛中被意大利队逼平。
“这也是一次集体努力，”奥利塞说，“他（齐达内）带来了想法，我们执行这些想法——在过去4场比赛中我们做得很好，我们将继续这样下去。”
“我认为我们最后阶段踢得很好。上半场很艰难，但我们坚持了下来，我们很高兴，”奥利塞说。
这位拜仁慕尼黑的边锋在齐达内执教初期一直是法国队最具影响力的球员，尽管仅有1次首发，但在最近3场比赛中打入4球。
法国队尚未锁定八强席位。如果意大利队未能击败土耳其队，法国队本可以确保小组前两名之一的位置。
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替补救场
在法兰西体育场，比利时队在第35分钟取得领先。多迪·卢克巴基奥突破越位陷阱，接到了罗密欧·拉维亚的一次精彩长传，随后与首秀的法国门将纪尧姆·雷斯特单对单，将球强力射入网底。
但齐达内星光熠熠的替补席扭转了局势。杜埃在第77分钟以一记低射打入右下角扳平比分，4分钟后，Les Bleus以一种略显奇怪的方式取得领先。
马尔滕·范德福特似乎即将扑出谢尔基的射门，但球击中了这位比利时门将的脚，随后反弹在左臂上入网。奥利塞助攻了这次进球，并在3分钟内亲自再入两球锁定胜局。
“我们知道替补球员能够改变比赛，因为他们是高水平的球员，”齐达内说，“但再一次，这是一次完整的团队表现；虽然替补球员在登场后可能制造了差异，但过去两周每个人都表现出色——每个人都发挥了自己的作用，这才是让我印象深刻的地方。”
“我们谈论奥利塞是因为他进球了，德西雷上来也进球了——每个替补登场的球员都进球了——这意味着这是一个正确的决定。”
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蓝衣军团重建仍在继续
在意大利，罗伯托·曼奇尼同样在寻求首场主场胜利。在他最新一任执教意大利队的任期开始之初，球队在罗马负于比利时，随后在客场对阵土耳其（蓝衣军团以 4-1 获胜）和法国的比赛中表现出色，极大地鼓舞了士气。
土耳其队在三场比赛中仅进一球且丢了八球，承受着巨大的压力。尽管他们缺少关键球员，但在博洛尼亚的比赛开局阶段依然表现得更为活跃。
然而，意大利队在第 26 分钟顶住压力率先破门。詹卢卡·斯卡马卡试图将传中球卸下，球在一名土耳其防守球员肩部反弹后，幸运地回到了斯卡马卡脚下，他随即凌空抽射，球击中横梁下沿入网。
第 61 分钟，阿拉尔·西姆希尔为土耳其队打入一球，扳平比分，这粒进球实至名归。但三分钟后，里卡多·卡拉菲奥里接尼科洛·巴雷拉的任意球头球破门，意大利队再次领先。
比赛末段，皮奥·埃斯波西托补射亚历山德罗·罗马诺的射门，锁定胜局。埃斯波西托成为历史上第二位在 21 岁生日之前就代表意大利国家队打入 7 个国际赛进球的球员。
“尽管我们做了很多调整，但全队都感到疲惫，我们经历了一定程度的挣扎，”曼奇尼说道。他在中场起用了近期初次登场的罗马诺和伊萨·杜姆比亚，并在右翼部署了此前从未入选国家队的安东尼奥·维加拉。
“但我们把握住了得分机会，并且在对方扳平比分后迅速再次进球，这一点做得很好。”
“我们必须继续比赛。目前我们排名第二，在比利时可能还需要为保住这个位置而战。”
在意大利再次未能获得世界杯资格后，曼奇尼回归执教，开启了第二次任期，带领意大利队进行重建。
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约克雷斯再次进球
维克托·约克雷斯（Viktor Gyokeres）将他在欧国联的连续进球纪录延长至七场比赛，帮助瑞典在罗马尼亚以 1-0 获胜。
这是约克雷斯在本届赛事中的第四个进球，他在周五打破了该纪录。
瑞典目前在 B4 组排名第一，领先于以 1-0 击败波兰的波斯尼亚和黑塞哥 2 分。
尽管被格鲁吉亚 0-0 逼平，北爱尔兰仍位居 B2 组之首。匈牙利以 2-1 击败乌克兰，排名第二。
综合电讯
中国青少年选手孙欣然（右）在周一于北京国家网球中心举行的中国网球公开赛女单第三轮比赛后，与来自美国的科科·高夫（Coco Gauff）握手。新华社
孙欣然在周一与科科·高夫的中国网球公开赛第三轮比赛中赢得一分后庆祝。新华社
作者：邢文 (XING WEN)
xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn
“感觉我是在和一个在未来很多年里都会成为伟大球员的女孩比赛。”
这就是两届大满贯冠军科科·高夫在 2026 年中国网球公开赛第三轮对阵中国 16 岁选手孙欣然后给出的评价。该场比赛最终以 7-5, 6-1 结束。
这句话并非在一次常规胜利的喜悦中说出的。
这位 22 岁的巡回赛老将承受了巨大的压力。在某些时刻，她甚至被对方压制。
她甚至承认，在进入比赛前，她“不知道该如何应对”孙欣然。
周一晚上，在北京国家网球中心钻石球场周围看台上坐满的主场观众还没来得及安定下来，孙欣然就给了他们欢呼的理由。
在前两局中，两名球员各自保发，每局耗时 6 分钟。
随后高夫率先破发，以 2-1 领先。然而，孙欣然立即反击，反破发将比分扳平至 2-2，随后又保发以 3-2 领先——这一连串激进的打法令全场陷入狂热。
孙欣然在今年夏天先后进入了温布尔登和法网的青少年组决赛，并赢得了美国网球公开赛青少年组冠军。她获得了中国网球公开赛的外卡，从而完成了她的 WTA 巡回赛首秀。
她充分利用了这次机会，在第一轮中击败了埃娃·利斯（Eva Lys）——这位德国选手在孙欣然以 6-1, 3-0 领先时退赛。随后，她在周六以 6-4, 7-5 的直落两盘击败了世界排名第 35 位的西班牙选手克里斯蒂娜·布克萨（Cristina Bucsa），从而与 3 号种子、2024 年中国网球公开赛冠军高夫展开对决。
“她没有任何明显的弱点。她能回接很多球并且打法激进。她的击球非常平，让我有点想起杰斯（佩古拉），”高夫说道。
“今天，她的正手压线打得非常好。显然，她的反手也很出色。（她）在几次反手斜线球上让我吃尽了苦头。”
在第一盘第 10 局——高夫的发球局，且孙欣然 5-4 领先时，两人陷入了一次长时间的拉锯战。
高夫失去了这一分，如果这一分由孙欣然拿下，比分将变为 30-15，距离破发仅差两分。
然而，高夫举手示意停止比赛，指向球场侧边面板上的一盏闪烁的灯。
该分被重新执行，高夫赢得了这一分，并随后拿下了接下来的三分，以 5-5 保发。她随后赢下了该盘，并在接下来的比赛中仅丢一局。
这一事件似乎扰乱了这位中国青少年的心态，镜头捕捉到她在局势下滑时流下了眼泪。
“我觉得我原本有很大的机会拿下第一盘，但我的情绪影响了我在第二盘的表现，我觉得自己有点崩溃了，”孙欣然在赛后新闻发布会上反思道。
“我失去了信心，不知道该怎么做。”
高夫关于干扰（hindrance）的申诉也在社交媒体上引发了激烈讨论。高夫随后在 X 上发帖解释此次申诉，坚持认为这是在规则范围内的挑战。
“我对比赛结束时的情况表示道歉，她完全理解了。我不希望看到她如此情绪化，因为我也经历过，我非常理解那种感觉，但这仅仅是一个辉煌职业生涯的开始，”高芙写道。
回顾在WTA之旅中面对顶尖对手的初步尝试，孙欣然表示她注意到资深球员与青少年球员之间存在许多差异。
“她们知道如何改变节奏，而且她们的发球比我的好得多。我会努力提升自己，并尝试提高我在球场上的能量。”
“感觉像是在面对一个在未来很多年里都会成为伟大球员的女孩。她没有任何明显的弱点。她能回接很多球并且打法激进。她的击球非常平；让我有点想起了杰斯（佩古拉）。”——科科·高芙评价孙欣然
谈到输给高芙一事，孙欣然将这一结果描述为“预料之中”。
“我想我会从这次经历中收获很多，下次做得更好。”
高芙同样是以神童之姿崛起，15岁时凭借外卡进入温网资格赛并闯入16强，18岁时进入法网单打决赛。
她补充说，孙欣然的水平并没有让她感到惊讶，因为她预料到这位青少年球员会打出“top 10, top 20 tennis”的水准——并且认为孙欣然确实做到了。
面对资深球员的如此赞赏，孙欣然保持谦逊。“我很高兴她这么说，我认为我仍然可以从她身上学到很多。她在更年轻的时候就取得了比我更多的成就，所以我认为我还需要继续进步。”
孙欣然表示，她最大的收获将是心态上的成长。
“过去，我可能开始得不够好，但现在我不断告诉自己我可以做到——这类积极的话语。”
由于母亲是一位网球爱好者，孙欣然在6岁时第一次拿起球拍。2023年，她进入深圳红山中学，在学业的同时接受专业的网球训练。
自2020年起，孙欣然一直生活在塞尔维亚，在过去五年中于贝尔格莱德网球公园在戈兰·齐沃蒂奇（Goran Zivotic）和戈兰·克里沃库查（Goran Krivokuca）的指导下训练。
孙欣然在中学的网球教练侯文迪回忆说，孙欣然是一名勤奋且坚韧的运动员，在烈日下不断练习正手和反手，稳步磨练基本功。
“能够始终保持对胜利的渴望是一名运动员最重要的品质。她能走到今天，与这种刻在骨子里的品质密不可分，”侯文迪说道。
顶尖球员齐聚上海大师赛
中国特日格勒在周一的上海大师赛资格赛中击败澳大利亚选手亚当·沃尔顿后向球迷问候。上海大师赛
作者：SUN XIAOCHEN
sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn
尽管世界 No 1 詹尼克·辛纳因伤缺席，但今年的劳力士上海大师赛仍将是亚洲男子网球的巅峰赛事，所有其他国内外顶尖球星已准备就绪，将为球迷带来一场真正的盛宴。
由于右膝受伤，辛纳在最后一刻宣布退出，这无疑让参赛阵容失去了一些光彩。但作为亚洲唯一一项顶级 ATP 1000 系列赛事，当正赛于周三在上海西郊的齐中网球中心拉开帷幕时，上海赛依然不缺星光。
24 次大满贯冠军诺瓦克·德约科维奇状态回升，此前他在北京中国公开赛中一路闯入决赛，表现令人印象深刻。按照普遍预期，如果他如期第 12 次参加该项赛事，他将领衔此次前往上海的星光熠熠的球员团。
上海赛的强大阵容还包括西班牙的世界 No 2 和 6 次大满贯得主卡洛斯·阿尔卡拉斯，现任法网和美网冠军、德国选手亚历山大·兹维列夫，美国美网决赛选手本·谢尔顿，以及摩纳哥的卫冕冠军瓦伦丁·瓦谢罗。
四名中国球员——布云超克特、吴易兴、张之珍和周毅——通过外卡进入正赛，预计他们将充分利用这项最高级别的本土赛事，在与世界顶尖选手的较量中衡量自己的进步。
前美网青少年冠军吴易兴于 2023, 2月在达拉斯赢得了中国首个男子 ATP 巡回赛冠军，他赞扬了顶级本土赛事在培养本土人才方面发挥的关键作用。
“虽然我们不像欧洲或美国球员那样幸运，他们在自己的家乡地区有更长的赛季，但我们拥有 500s, 250s, 再加上大师赛和多项挑战赛，这让我们的年轻球员能够在职业生涯早期获得积分，这太棒了。我认为中国网球的未来非常光明，”吴易兴在周一的赛前新闻发布会上表示。
吴易兴职业生涯的一个高光时刻——在 2024 上海大师赛第三轮惜败于阿尔卡拉斯——证明了这种影响。这位 26 岁球员在与西班牙人的一场艰苦对决中将阿尔卡拉斯逼至极限（最终比分为 7-6(5), 6-3），这显著增强了他的信心。
“我有时仍会观看那场比赛的集锦。我认为我们两人的表现都非常出色。那是我的 3 场比赛。我喜欢这里的球场，这是一个快场。我一直很享受与卡洛斯的对决。他的风格和击球是巡回赛中最顶尖的，”吴易兴说道。他刚刚代表中国队参加了 2026 爱知-名古屋亚运会，并获得男子单打银牌。
“此外，这里的球迷一直在支持我，那可能是我职业生涯中打得最好的比赛之一。希望今年我也能表现出色。”
如果吴易兴能通过第一轮与一名资格赛选手的对决，他将立即迎来另一场“大卫挑战歌利亚”式的考验，因为头号种子、世界 No 2 兹维列夫将在第二轮等待他。
前 32 名种子选手在第一轮均获得轮空，他们将从周五和周六的 64 强赛开始进行首场比赛。
这位在 2026, 已赢得 2 项大满贯的德国名将状态火热，他与意大利的 No 7 弗拉维奥·科博利以及中国公开赛决赛选手、澳大利亚的亚历克斯·德米纳尔处于同一个分区。而德约科维奇如果选择参赛，在在北京四分之一决赛击败兹维列夫后，两人有可能在上海的半决赛中再次相遇。
中国目前排名最高的顶尖选手布文中超克特将与排名第45位的法国选手卢卡·范·阿什（Luca Van Assche）展开职业生涯首次交锋；而上海本土选手张（曾在2024年7月达到中国男选手的最高排名第31位）将在一次引人注目的首轮比赛中，与他之前的双打搭档、捷克选手托马斯·马查奇（Tomas Machac）展开对决。
2号种子阿尔卡拉斯可能在第四轮面对15号种子汤米·保罗（Tommy Paul）或卫冕冠军瓦谢罗（Vacherot），并在四分之一决赛中面对5号种子丹尼尔·梅德韦杰夫（Daniil Medvedev）或11号种子泰勒·弗里茨（Taylor Fritz）。
梅德韦杰夫曾任世界第一并获得2021年美国网球公开赛冠军。此前在北京赛对阵德约科维奇的半决赛中，他因在显然沮丧的情况下将球击入观众席并意外伤到一名观众而被取消资格。此次在上海，他将力求通过高质量的比赛在中国球迷面前挽回颜面。
上海大师赛将于10月18日结束，总奖金池超过940万美元，单打冠军将获得115万美元奖金和1,000个排名积分。
在球员们登场之前，于10月1-4日举行的为期四天的首届大师赛嘉年华已让这座城市热闹非凡。该活动为球迷提供了观看顶尖球员训练、在专门的网球博物馆探索网球主题展览，以及参加业余和青少年比赛的机会。
在去年成功亮相后，备受欢迎的“ACE宠物区”也再次回归，在齐中网球中心的一个特别区域内，为球迷及其四足伙伴再次创造了一个温馨且宠物友好的空间。
CHINADAILY HOLIDAY EDITION
中國日報
WEDNESDAY, October 7, 2026
chinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥2
Visitors enjoy the evening at a scenic area illuminated by lanterns in a variety of shapes and colors in Anji county, Zhejiang province, on Monday, PAN XUEKANG / XINHUA
Holiday travel highlights China's transport strength
A young passenger prepares for departure at the Leshan Railway Station in Sichuan province on Tuesday as transportation hubs across China experience a surge in the number of travelers. LI HUASHI / FOR CHINA DAILY
For Zhang Yang and his family in Ankang, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, this year's National Day holiday was a memorable one. On Oct 1, following the opening of the Xi'an-Ankang high-speed railway, they took a direct high-speed train from Ankang to Yan'an, a city known for its revolutionary history.
The journey, which once took more than seven hours, now takes just over two hours.
The Zhang family was among millions on the move during the National Day holiday from Oct 1 to 7, one of China's peak periods for travel and spending.
Data from the Ministry of Transport showed cross-regional passenger trips exceeded 300 million on each of the first three days of the holiday. China State Railway Group said the country's railways handled over 25.2 million passenger trips on Oct 1, setting a new single-day record.
For a country as vast as China, moving hundreds of millions of people during a holiday rush is a feat of scale. Behind this feat lies a transport network built up over decades.
By the end of 2025, China's comprehensive transport network spanned more than 6 million kilometers, including the world's largest high-speed rail network. High-speed railways, expressways, airports and ports connect cities, towns and rural areas across the country.
The network continues to expand. On Sept 28, China opened four major high-speed railway sections across northern, northwestern, central and northeastern China, with a combined length of more than 1,100 km.
The new lines have shortened travel time and put more destinations within easy reach of families like Zhang's.
China's transport development goes beyond faster journeys. Better supporting services are also making travel more convenient.
New energy vehicles have become increasingly common among Chinese households and are now a popular choice for long-distance travel. The Ministry of Transport expects NEV trips on expressways during the holiday to reach 1.8 times the usual level, pushing up demand for charging services.
China's extensive charging infrastructure is helping to meet this growing demand. The country now has more than 24 million electric vehicle charging facilities, forming the world's largest EV charging network. Highway service areas have about 89,000 charging facilities in total, covering virtually all service areas.
To handle the holiday peak, mobile emergency chargers have been added at key service areas, while drivers are being encouraged to leave after charging their batteries to 80 percent to improve turnover.
Faster connections and more convenient services are making it easier for travelers to visit more destinations in a single trip. Data from online travel platform Qunar showed that nearly 30 percent of travelers had booked hotels in at least two cities, while bookings involving stays in four or more cities surged 53 percent year on year.
The trend extends beyond China's borders. China's expanding transport links are supporting a rise in cross-border travel, with Chinese airlines operating regular international passenger routes connecting 177 cities in 80 countries.
The transport network that carries millions of travelers is also keeping goods moving, linking businesses and markets and sustaining economic activity across the country.
Even during the holiday, the Liujing operating area of Nanning Port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region bustled with activity, amid the sound of ship horns and workers loading and unloading goods.
The increase in cargo traffic is closely linked to the opening of the Pinglu Canal. Stretching 134.2 km from Hengzhou in Guangxi to the Beibu Gulf, the canal opened to navigation on Sept 16, providing a shorter river-sea route for cargo from Southwest China to international markets.
Bulk cargo, including construction material, auto parts and grains, is being shipped from Nanning Port via Pinglu Canal to Beibu Gulf for export. On average, the route now handles an additional 20,000 tonnes of cargo per day.
"We expect to transport 200,000 tonnes of cargo during the National Day holiday," said You Tong, deputy manager of the production operations center at Nanning Port Development and Investment Co.
XINHUA
Okinawa murder arrest reignites anger over US bases
By HOU JUNJIE in Tokyo
houjunjie@chinadaily.com.cn
The arrest of a US serviceman in Japan's Okinawa on suspicion of murder has once again triggered anger and distrust among the Japanese public.
Some argued that the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement effectively granted the United States a degree of extraterritorial privilege.
They called for a reassessment of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's efforts to strengthen the Japan-US military alliance, as well as the growing burden such moves placed on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of US military facilities in Japan.
On Sunday, Okinawa prefectural police arrested US Marine Devin Jacob Ballard from outside a US military base on suspicion of robbing and murdering a local woman at a hotel early on Saturday.
Ballard has denied the allega-
tions, Kyodo News reported.
Takaichi expressed regret over the incident at the outset of her policy speech on Monday, calling on the US side to fully cooperate with the investigation, tighten discipline and take measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the future.
Okinawa Governor Genta Koja also lodged a protest with the US military the same day.
However, the US side did not apologize for the incident, saying it could not do so when Ballard had denied the allegations and the facts of the case were yet to be established, media reports said.
Hiroshi Shiratori, a professor at Hosei University in Tokyo, said provisions in the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement that, in a sense, grant the US side extraterritorial privileges remain a major obstacle to addressing such problems.
Under the agreement, if a US service member suspected of an offense is already in US custody, the US side retains custody until Japan formally indicts the suspect. If Japanese authorities take the suspect into custody, as in this case, the suspect remains in Japanese custody.
Measures taken in the past — including tightening discipline, restricting off-base activities and stepping up patrols — have had little tangible effect, Shiratori said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi separately lodged protests with the US side on Sunday.
According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, US Ambassador to Japan George Glass said the US would fully cooperate with investigations and make every effort to prevent a recurrence.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, said that tightening discipline alone cannot solve the problem. She said the Japanese government also bears political responsibility for its failure over the years to push for revisions to the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement.
The military alliance has often left the Japanese government with only being satisfied with lodging verbal protests, rather than taking fundamental measures to address the issue, Shiratori said.
Shiratori said the protests lodged by Takaichi and other Cabinet members could, in a sense, be seen as an attempt to shore up public support for the administration ahead of the upcoming extraordinary session of the Diet.
Protests were held in Okinawa and Tokyo over the weekend, with participants calling on the Japanese government to take action over repeated incidents involving US military personnel, reduce Okinawa's disproportionate base burden, and remove US military bases from the prefecture.
See Arrest, page 2
Chinese AI models see intl adoption surge
Shift from winning attention to selling through major global platforms lauded
By CHENG YU and TAN GUOLING
United States-based cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services said on Tuesday that it has made GLM-5.3, the latest flagship model from China's Z.ai, available on the Amazon Bedrock platform, while sources familiar with the matter confirmed that AWS would share revenue with Z.ai based on the usage of the model.
Industry experts said the move underscores a broader shift in the global expansion of Chinese artificial intelligence models: from winning attention among overseas developers to gaining real-world adoption, while increasingly being sold through major international commercial platforms.
Z.ai is not alone. AWS has added six open-weight Chinese models, including DeepSeek V3.2, MiniMax M2.1 and Alibaba's Qwen3 Coder Next, into the Amazon Bedrock platform. In September, Moonshot's Kimi K3 also became available on Amazon Bedrock.
According to Wang Peng, a researcher with Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, such a shift means that each genuine overseas model call would now be converted into commercial revenue.
Wang said that under the cloud revenue-sharing approach, open models help build a developer ecosystem, global cloud computing companies provide computing infrastructure and access to corporate customers, and model developers receive a share of the incomes generated when customers actually use their models.
"A year ago, the overseas expansion of Chinese models was largely about getting foreign developers to use them. Now, an increasingly clear shift is taking place: overseas commercial platforms are starting to actively sell them," Wang said.
Latest data from AI model aggregation platform OpenRouter showed that Chinese models processed about 57.46 trillion tokens in the week ending Sunday, compared with about 16.2 trillion tokens by US models.
It was the 23rd consecutive week in which Chinese models had higher weekly token usage than US models on the platform. DeepSeek alone accounted for 21.8 percent of text requests in OpenRouter's latest full week, while Z.ai and Qwen were also among its biggest model providers.
Another indicator came from Hugging Face, the world's largest open-source AI community. Its report showed that Chinese-developed models accounted for about 41 percent of model downloads on the platform over the previous year, surpassing those from the US.
By this summer, Alibaba's Qwen model family had recorded about 2.045 billion downloads on Hugging Face, while the number of derivative models built on Qwen had reached 151,448, about 2.6 times the total number of derivatives based on Meta's models from the US.
Zhang Yaqin, founding dean of Tsinghua University's Institute for AI Industry Research and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said: "Openness could become a structural advantage for China's AI industry. Lower costs and easier access have made models such as DeepSeek and Qwen particularly attractive to smaller companies and emerging markets."
See AI, page 2
DESERT OASIS A LIFELINE FOR MIGRATORY BIRDS
◆
Protected Gansu wetlands a 'natural breeding ground' for black storks, other species
By HU YUMENG and MA JINGNA in Lanzhou
For nearly three months, a young black stork stayed in its nest on a cliff in Gansu province, waiting to learn how to fly. Then the time came for the nestling to leave its temporary home in Gaotai county, Zhangye.
Other chicks in the same nest had already flown off. But the third, whose leg had been broken, remained behind.
Documentary filmmaker Zhao Hai remembered the scene while watching footage captured by an infrared camera near the nest.
The young bird hesitated to leave the nest, while its parents stayed nearby. Eventually, the chick took off. Its parents flew alongside it for a while, as if encouraging it on its first flight.
For Zhao, who has observed birds for about 30 years and filmed them for more than two decades, it was one of many moments that have made black storks more than a subject for his camera. "When we watch birds, sometimes their behavior is basically the same as that of humans," he said.
He recalled another touching scene. When newly hatched black stork chicks were still tiny and April mornings and evenings could be cold, an adult bird brought pieces of plastic to the nest and covered the chicks with them.
"It was almost like covering the chicks with a blanket to keep them warm," Zhao said.
Such moments are difficult to capture. Black storks are highly wary of people, and Zhao has tried to minimize disturbing them while filming.
See Wetlands, page 3
国内统一连续出版物号: CN 11-0091 国际标准连续出版物号: ISSN 0253-9543 代号: 1-3
© 2026 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 46 — No. 14470
A member of the Asia News Network
Basketball
glory
Players of the Liuzhou Luzhai town team (in yellow) from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region face off against the Yecheng team from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region during the "Cun BA" or village basketball league, national championship final in Taipan village, Taijiang county, Guizhou province, on Monday. Luzhai town team secured a 91-75 victory to defend their title, claiming the championship for the second consecutive year.
QU HONGLUN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE
China rebukes baseless, false human rights accusations
Experts say selective criticism exposes Western countries' double standards
By LIU JIANQIAO
liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn
Some Western countries continue to fabricate and spread falsehoods about China and exploit human rights issues for political purposes, while failing to safeguard the well-being of their own people, revealing a clear double standard in their approach to human rights, experts said.
At the general debate of the Third Committee of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said representatives of the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania had made baseless accusations against China and maliciously smeared its human rights record in their statements. China expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to their remarks.
Sun said these countries, which regard themselves as superior to others, frequently assume the role of "human rights lecturers". Yet, their accusations regarding China's human rights are unfounded and, given their own serious human rights problems at home, they are in no position to lecture others on human rights.
Sun pointed out that China has consistently worked to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods while pursuing development, eliminating absolute poverty and lifting nearly 100 million people out of poverty.
By contrast, poverty in the UK, for example, has continued to worsen in recent years, with more than 14 million people living below the poverty line, half of them in “extreme poverty”, he said.
A 2018 report by Philip Alston, then UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said 14 million people, a fifth of the UK population, lived in poverty and 4 million of these were more than 50 percent below the poverty line, and 1.5 million destitute, unable to afford basic essentials.
A study by the British Social Metrics Commission in 2024 found the cost of living crisis had plunged 2 million more people into severe hardship since 2019, meaning more than 16 million people in total are defined as living in poverty, or 24 percent of the UK population, the highest since comparable records began in 2000.
In Japan, Sun said, the relative household poverty rate stood at approximately 15 percent, while child poverty has become an increasingly pressing issue.
Sun added that China was deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Japan.
He said China urged certain countries to stop fabricating and spreading falsehoods about China and using human rights issues for political purposes. Otherwise, they will "only end up shooting themselves in the foot", he said.
In his second right of reply to the Japanese representative's statement, Sun told the Japanese side that only by strictly adhering to its international obligations, thoroughly eradicating the legacy of militarism, and committing to peaceful development can it truly shed the burden of its history.
Any attempt to whitewash its history of aggression, promote the resurgence of militarism, and challenge universal principles of justice and conscience through false narratives, such as “international contributions” and “existential crises”, will inevitably face historical reckoning and the judgment of justice once again, he said.
Chen Hong, director of the Asia-Pacific studies center at East China Normal University, said that the West's "double standards on human rights" are, in essence, not merely a matter of applying inconsistent standards, but rather the complete instrumentalization and weaponization of human rights.
"When it comes to countries that they see as strategic rivals, human rights issues are blown out of proportion and used as a pretext to exert pressure, impose sanctions, interfere in their internal affairs, and even orchestrate international public opinion campaigns to isolate them," he said.
What some Western countries are truly concerned about is not human rights, but whether human rights serve their strategic interests. When human rights align with their interests, they wave the banner of human rights and when they do not, they choose to remain silent, he said.
“Human rights have been distorted from a universal value into a tool for maintaining Western political dominance and hegemony in the international discourse,” Chen said.
He noted that countries such as the UK have long portrayed themselves as “preachers” of democracy, human rights and freedom, but this sense of moral superiority is becoming increasingly unconvincing.
"The human rights diplomacy of these countries increasingly resembles a political tool, serving not primarily to advance human rights but to maintain their moral high ground and influence over the international agenda," Chen said.
Liu Shuliang, an associate researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, said that Japan has turned a blind eye to its own serious human rights issues, including the wealth gap, racial discrimination, gender-based violence and elder abuse.
In recent years, Japan has also attempted to distort historical facts and evade responsibility for its acts of aggression, while continuously pushing its security policies in an offensive, expansionist, and dangerous direction. It has shed the mask of a so-called “peace-loving nation” and is attempting to return to the old path of militarism, he said.
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AI: Models lowering barriers
From page 1
Wang from the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences noted that the global rollout of Chinese AI models helps diversify the global AI landscape and reduces reliance on a small number of technology players.
"These models lower barriers to AI adoption, offer cost-effective solutions for overseas businesses and inject fresh momentum into the global digital economy. Open-source collaboration and open sharing can also promote more inclusive global AI development and help build a more diverse, balanced AI ecosystem."
Shen Yang, a professor at Tsinghua University, said: “Chinese AI companies were already encountering different market conditions as they expanded overseas. Southeast Asia offered relatively strong commercial certainty, Gulf markets had higher value per customer, while Latin America had significant unmet demand.”
Foreign countries are also increasingly pursuing their own forms of “AI sovereignty”, Shen said.
Contact the writers at chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
'Kneeling apology' clip sparks backlash
By LI SHANGYI
lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn
The China Air Transport Association has called on the civil aviation industry and society to safeguard the rights and interests of cabin crew following a recent incident aboard a China Eastern Airlines flight where a passenger is said to have verbally abused a flight attendant, prompting her to apologize on her knees.
A Sept 28 video clip of the incident, which showed the flight attendant kneeling beside a meal cart, quickly circulated on social media. The person who posted the video said the flight attendant had accidentally bumped a male passenger's elbow with the cart while serving beverages, but that the passenger did not accept her apology.
The video sparked heated debate online, with many netizens stating that the passenger's behavior had gone too far and calling for enhanced protection of the flight attendant's rights and interests.
On Sept 30, China Eastern Airlines released a statement following an investigation into the matter, which occurred on a flight from Hefei, Anhui province, to Dalian, Liaoning province, on Sept 28.
The airline said that while the flight attendant was pushing the meal cart to provide beverage service, the cart accidentally came into contact with the sleeping passenger's elbow. The flight attendant immediately and repeatedly apologized and checked on the passenger.
According to the airline, the passenger became agitated and repeatedly used vulgar and abusive language and threatened to kick the flight attendant, demanding that she accompany him to seek medical treatment after the flight landed.
Upon reaching the destination, medical personnel examined the passenger and found no obvious injuries, and determined that no further treatment was required. The passenger declined an offer from ground personnel to accompany him to seek medical attention and left on his own, the airline said.
It added that it had provided psychological counseling and support to the flight attendant, who was distressed by the passenger's behavior. She has since resumed her normal duties.
On Saturday, the airline issued another statement, noting that the passenger's behavior had disrupted order aboard a civil aircraft and infringed upon the flight attendant's dignity and rights in the performance of her duties. The company said it had reported the incident to the public security authorities and suspended its carriage services for the passenger in accordance with its relevant regulations.
China's revised Civil Aviation
Law, which took effect on July 1, prohibits acts such as provoking trouble aboard civil aircraft, as well as insulting or assaulting crew members. It also added a dedicated section on passenger rights protection.
In a statement released on its WeChat account on Monday evening, the China Air Transport Association said that protecting passengers' lawful rights and interests and safeguarding the safety of civil aviation transport and the professional dignity of aviation workers are two integral aspects of the new law and should be given equal importance.
The association said it firmly supported its member airlines in safeguarding employees' rights and interests in the performance of their duties in accordance with the law. It called on airlines to improve procedures for handling disruptive behavior onboard and strengthen protections for frontline personnel.
It also urged passengers to behave courteously and exercise their rights in a rational manner when traveling by air.
The association added that it will continue to follow the handling of the incident and encourage member airlines to improve their service management systems and cabin service standards, while strengthening protection for the rights and interests of cabin crew and other frontline employees.
Red Army veteran's vow of silence shapes legacy
of the Chishui River to practice.
By ZHAO RUINAN in Nanchang zhaoruinan@chinadaily.com.cn
In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, He Mulin finally no longer needed to pretend that he could not speak.
He wanted to share the news with his wife. But when he opened his mouth, no words came out.
"At that moment, he really couldn't make a sound," said his granddaughter, He Li, recounting a scene passed down by her mother.
He Mulin put his hands on his wife's shoulders and shook her, managing only indistinct sounds.
He Mulin
"He could only nod and answer her with his eyes," He Li said.
For 14 years, her grandfather had pretended to be deaf and mute
— to conceal his identity as a Red Army soldier and to protect the villagers who had risked their lives to save him.
Born in 1904 in Huichang county, Jiangxi province, He Mulin joined the revolutionary ranks as a young man and later became a squad leader in the training battalion of the Fifth Division of the Third Red Army Corps.
On Jan 28, 1935, he fought at Qinggangpo near Tucheng in present-day Xishui county, Guizhou province. The battle came shortly after the Zunyi Conference and preceded the Red Army's first crossing of the Chishui River.
For He Mulin, Qinggangpo was where the Long March ended.
"My grandfather was badly wounded and fell unconscious on the battlefield," He Li said. "Local people later found him and carried him to a cave to recover."
The Zhao family hid him there while enemy forces searched for wounded Red Army soldiers, and secretly brought him food and herbal medicine. After more than three months, his wounds healed, but his leg remained permanently disabled.
He Mulin wanted to catch up with his unit, but feared exposing the villagers who had sheltered him as his Jiangxi accent easily identified him as an outsider.
"He didn't want to bring trouble to the people who had saved his life," He Li said.
So he stopped speaking. He survived through manual labor, eventually settling around Tucheng. The deception lasted 14 years.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, He Mulin began trying to recover his voice.
"At first he practiced making sounds," He Li said. "Then he slowly practiced speaking one word at a time."
He repeatedly went to the banks
After years without speaking, it took him about four years of practice before he could communicate relatively clearly again.
Once he
regained his speech, He Mulin often walked to Qinggangpo, where comrades killed in the battle were buried.
He would sit beside their graves and talk.
He Li said the first clear words he directed to his fallen comrades carried a simple message: New China had been founded, they had won, and their blood had not been shed in vain.
He Mulin, the man who had survived by remaining silent, later became a volunteer storyteller in Tucheng in 1954, sharing his memories of the Long March with visitors for 25 years — often at the Qinggangpo battle site and the Chishui River ferry crossing where the Red Army had made its first crossing.
Among the belongings He Mulin left behind, the one that amazed He Li the most was a public medical care certificate issued to him in 1962.
It was never used — he never sought medical treatment for his old leg wound, believing that simply surviving had already made him far luckier than his fallen comrades.
He Mulin died in 1979. But the storytelling continued.
His daughter-in-law Lin Chengying, He Li's mother, spent decades sharing his story with visitors.
In 2020, He Li left a stable job in the pharmaceutical business and returned to Tucheng to continue the work. Her daughter, He Keying, later also became a volunteer guide.
Four generations have now taken turns telling He Mulin's story.
But there was one journey he never completed. After leaving Huichang, He Mulin never returned to his hometown.
In 2018, people retracing the Long March route helped the family locate his relatives in Jiangxi. He Li finally made the journey herself this year. At the end of August, she arrived in Huichang for the first time.
Relatives welcomed her with firecrackers. Then she saw two older family members whose faces immediately reminded her of her late father, He Shizhou, He Mulin's son.
"I hugged them and just started crying," she said. "It felt as if I had found my home."
He Keying (left), great-granddaughter of He Mulin, guides tourists at the memorial hall of the Four Crossings of the Chishui River in Zunyi, Guizhou province, in August. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Arrest: Japan urged to alter stand on US bases
highest figure since 2003.
From page 1
Sachika Takara, a House of Councillors member representing Okinawa, told a rally outside the Prime Minister's Office that the Japanese government's repeated calls for the US side to tighten discipline had failed to prevent such incidents.
She called for a reassessment of Okinawa's heavy base burden and what she described as Japan's excessive reliance on military means in its security policy.
Okinawa prefectural police handled 101 criminal cases involving US military personnel, civilian employees, and their family members in 2025, the
Police have handled 6,409 criminal cases involving US military-affiliated personnel from 1972 till last year. Of these, 600 involved serious crimes, including murder.
In 1995, the rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen sparked public outrage in Japan. The following year, Japan and the US agreed to return land occupied by Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, but that has not yet happened.
Shiratori, from Hosei University, said such incidents have repeatedly occurred in Okinawa since the 1990s, fueling criticism that mainland Japan has left Okinawa alone to shoulder the country's defense burden.
---
COVER
Left: Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve workers fit a black stork with a GPS tracking device in Gaotai county, Gansu province, in September. SHAN GUOFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Middle: A black stork chick filmed in the reserve. Right: An adult black stork feeds its chicks. PHOTOS BY ZHAO HAI / FOR CHINA DAILY
Wetlands: Nurturing avian life in deserts
From page 1
So far, he has filmed two nests through most of the breeding process. But what he has seen at the nests is part of a much larger story unfolding along the Zhangye Heihe Wetland.
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'Bird airport'
The wetlands are sometimes described by locals as a "bird airport".
Wetland ranger Jiang Yonghong sees this seasonal traffic firsthand as he patrols the Zhengyi Gorge area in Gaotai, a natural breeding ground for black storks.
Zhangye sits on the edge of the vast Badain Jaran Desert, the third-largest desert in China, covering about 49,200 square kilometers. The desert stretches across much of the landscape to the north and west, while the Qilian Mountains rise to its south. The Heihe River cuts through this dry landscape, creating wetlands where migratory birds can stop, feed and rest.
The Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve includes natural habitats such as the Heihe River and its tributaries and marshes, as well as man-made reservoirs and artificial lakes, said Shan Guofeng, head of the reserve's animal and plant protection department. The diverse habitats support 246 bird species, including 107 waterbird species, along with nationally protected wildlife.
Located along key sections of the Central Asian-India flyway and the East Asian-Australasian flyway, Gansu serves as an important stopover for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.
Large numbers of migratory birds arrive from early September, with the number peaking around mid-October, Jiang said. Black storks are one of the main species, while other waterbirds use reservoirs, shallow waters and mudflats.
Jiang compares the wetlands to a high-way service area.
After flying hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, birds need somewhere to stop, rest and feed, he said. "They may have found this oasis and chosen to stop here," said Shan.
The wetlands are not simply a place for birds to pass through. For black storks, they also provide a breeding ground.
Known as the “giant panda of birds”, the black stork is demanding when it comes to its habitat requirements. It needs clean water, sufficient food and minimal human disturbance to breed and survive. For this reason, the species is often seen as a natural indicator of an ecosystem’s health.
Black storks often choose the cliffs around Zhengyi Gorge for breeding because they are high and relatively isolated, Jiang said. Their proximity to the wetlands also allows them to forage for fish and shrimp and carry food back to their nests.
The breeding season typically begins in late March or early April. Chicks generally hatch around May and begin leaving the nest in late July or early August.
During the breeding period, conservation workers place warning signs and fences around some nests and, when necessary, place small fish and shrimp in the river to supplement natural food sources.
---
Mountain 'life source'
The water that makes this "airport" possible comes from much farther away.
Far upstream, snow, glaciers, permafrost and precipitation feed streams in the Qilian Mountains. Their runoff gathers into rivers and eventually flows into the Heihe River, sustaining ecosystems across the arid Hexi Corridor.
In an otherwise dry landscape, the Heihe River and its tributaries thread through a 41,200-hectare reserve in Zhangye, creating a mosaic of rivers, lakes, ponds, forests, grasslands and wetlands.
"The Qilian Mountains are the source of life for the Hexi Corridor and even Ejina," said Xu Erwen, director of the Gansu Qilian Mountain Water Conservation Forest Research Institute.
But the importance of the mountains goes beyond simply supplying water. “We have found that water has always been the key to understanding the Qilian Mountains,” said Xu, who has studied the ecosystem for more than four decades.
The forests and grasslands of the mountains act as a giant “sponge”, he said, and upstream water sustains the shallow waters, aquatic life and feeding grounds on which migratory birds depend.
The mountains' role also extends beyond water storage.
"The forests, grasslands and shrubs in the Qilian Mountains are not only the main components of water conservation, but also a 'pump' driving regional water-vapor circulation," Xu said.
But this system is not static. Xu's institute has maintained an ecological observation station in the Dayekou Basin of the Qilian Mountains for more than 30 years. Its observations show that temperatures there have risen by about 0.17 C every 10 years, Xu said.
Warming can accelerate glacier melting and permafrost thawing, but Xu cautioned against simply viewing this as beneficial to wetlands.
An ecosystem includes interconnected elements such as the cryosphere, water, forests and grasslands, he said. Changes in one section cannot simply be judged as good or bad for another.
What is clear, he said, is the importance of maintaining a stable water supply.
"There is no oasis without water. Without water, there is no life," Xu said, adding that ecological restoration and water conservation should be viewed over the long term rather than judged by one or two years of change.
---
Habitat restoration
For the birds that rely on the wetlands, a stable water supply is not an abstract ecological goal. It determines whether there is enough habitat and food when required.
Top: Staff of the Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve patrol the area during a search for black storks in Gaotai in July. JIANG YONGHONG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Above: Researchers attach a GPS tracker to a black stork in September.
SHAN GUOFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Jiang said dry conditions this year have reduced water availability in some areas. Black storks feed on small fish and shrimp, as well as dragonfly larvae and tadpoles. When water becomes scarce, their feeding grounds can shrink and their food sources can become less abundant.
Shan said water levels had fallen in some parts of the wetlands this year, reducing areas suitable for waterbirds. The reserve's full monitoring results for the year are not yet available, but field observations suggest that bird numbers are lower than in previous years.
Maintaining a suitable habitat therefore requires sustained ecological restoration and management.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, central and provincial special funds totaling about 130 million yuan (\$19 million) have supported ecological protection and restoration in the reserve. More than 160 hectares of damaged wetland has been restored, along with 274.73 hectares of vegetation.
More than 27.4 kilometers of waterways have been dredged, and ecological water replenishment has covered 953.33 hectares, according to the reserve.
For black storks in particular, habitat restoration has focused on creating shallow-water feeding grounds. As wading birds, they do not forage well in deep water, so restoration work has included areas generally no deeper than 50 centimeters where the birds can catch fish, Shan said.
Targeted habitat restoration for black storks began in 2025 and continued this year, alongside patrols, measures to reduce human disturbance, and the provision of small fish and shrimp during the breeding season when food is limited.
---
Satellite tracking
Restoration, however, is only part of the effort. Conservation workers also need to know how birds are using the wetlands and where they go after leaving.
The reserve has monitored birds since 2014, Shan said.
Since 2022, conservation workers have used breeding observations, behavioral studies and satellite tracking to monitor black storks and other rare birds.
So far, 39 black storks have been fitted with satellite trackers, mainly to study the migratory routes of birds that breed in Zhangye, when they leave, where they stop and where they spend the winter.
The tracking revealed a regular migratory route for the Zhangye population.
The birds generally leave in mid-to-late October, cross the Qilian Mountains and stop at wetlands in places including Qing-hai province and Zoige Grassland before continuing through Yunnan province to Myanmar, where they spend the winter.
They return along roughly the same route the following year, Shan said.
The value of the monitoring was demonstrated in March 2026, when tracking data showed that a black stork fitted with a satellite device in September 2025 had returned to Zhengyi Gorge. Field checks later confirmed that it had successfully bred there.
"It was a significant finding for our research into the breeding habits and migration patterns of black storks," Shan said, adding that such findings help researchers develop more targeted protection measures.
During the 2026 breeding season, workers conducted three rounds of full-coverage surveys. They recorded 23 black stork chicks hatching, with 19 becoming fledglings.
The longer-term monitoring also offers a more cautious way of reading changes in bird numbers.
A synchronized survey in 2024 recorded 675 black storks in the reserve, while a subsequent survey in 2025 recorded 455. Shan said year-to-year differences do not necessarily indicate a change in the quality of the wetland environment.
Bird monitoring is a long-term process and comparisons are generally more meaningful over periods of about five years, he said. Annual numbers can be affected by random or temporary factors, so a decline in one year does not necessarily mean that the wetland has deteriorated.
"Over a longer period, such as 10 years, bird numbers have shown an overall upward trend," Shan said. "That suggests the environment is gradually improving."
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Daily vigilance
For Jiang, protecting that progress is part of his daily work. His patrols take him along the Heihe River and through the Zhengyi Gorge area every other day. He checks for fires, tree cutting, sand and gravel extraction and damage to the riverbank, while also observing wildlife.
"The wetland is our neighbor," he said, describing how settlements and wetlands exist alongside each other.
The reserve is part of a broader wetland protection network in Zhangye, which has 230,300 hectares of wetlands. The city has established a four-level protection system involving a national nature reserve, national wetland parks, wetland conservation areas and villages jointly involved in wetland protection and management.
Technology is also expanding the reach of that protection. The city has added remote monitoring points, drone patrol systems and monitoring equipment, integrating them with satellite remote sensing and the city's ecological monitoring network.
On the ground, people continue to deal with the everyday challenges of sharing the landscape with birds.
Shen Yang, a transmission-line patrol worker with State Grid Zhangye Power Supply Company, has spent years inspecting power lines around the wetlands. He has noticed more bird species and greater numbers of some birds over the past decade. In his experience, birds that were once rarely seen in Zhangye, he said, have become common.
As bird numbers increased, a transmission line running through the wetland was relocated to its outskirts before 2015 as part of the wetland's overall planning, Shen said.
For Shen, protecting birds has become part of his daily patrols. When he finds an injured or flightless bird, he sends it to a wildlife protection station for care.
If a nest is empty, he still goes back to check it. "Even though the birds have flown away, I still come to take a look. They will come back next year," he said.
Left: The Zhangye Heihe Wetland in Gansu is home to flocks of whooper swans, grey herons and spot-billed ducks, which feed and rest in the waters as the snow and ice begin to melt. CHENG GANG / FOR CHINA DAILY Right: Black storks gather in the wetland. SHAN GUOFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
WORLD
UN chief calls for permanent Gaza truce
UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the third anniversary of the Oct 7, 2023, attacks.
The horrors of those attacks must never be repeated, and the ensuing hostilities in Gaza must end, Guterres said in a message marking the anniversary.
On Oct 7, 2023, Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel responded with a war on Hamas in Gaza that killed at least 74,000 Palestinians.
"The devastating hostilities that followed (the attacks) have inflicted untold suffering on Palestinians in Gaza, including massive loss of life, displacement, and destruction," Guterres said. "Civilians continue to endure intolerable conditions. Their suffering, too, demands an end, now."
The ceasefire reached last year has brought some relief. But it has yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery and peace, he said.
"I urge all parties to implement their commitments in full and advance to the next phase of the ceasefire," he said. "It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale. And it is time to respect international law."
A Palestinian man cleans a rooftop at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. BASHAR TALEB / AFP
Guterres emphasized the need to build a political path to lasting peace across the whole region, adding that the United Nations remains unwavering in its commitment to these imperatives.
“Let this anniversary mark not only another year of mourning, but also a renewed determination to build a different future: one in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side-by-side in peace and security, with their rights, dignity, and aspirations fulfilled," he said.
Israel, which still controls most of Gaza, refuses to withdraw its soldiers until Hamas' disarmament has been verified.
Hamas, for its part, has advocated for gradual disarmament rather than immediate and unilateral surrender of its arsenal.
Since the 2023 attacks, Israel has waged military attacks on several fronts, notably invading southern Lebanon to confront the Hezbollah movement and launching war against Iran with the United States.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the military to hunt down and kill the remaining participants in the Hamas-led attack.
About 6,000 attackers crossed the border into Israel on that day, he said, adding that 4,000 of them had already been killed. “We ordered the military to pursue and kill them all, from the most senior to the most junior,” he said.
XINHUA - AGENCIES
Chinese design takes new form at LA museum
Co-founder George Lucas (center) and his wife, Mellody Hobson (second from right), pose with Chinese architect Ma Yansong (right) and Lucas Museum CEO Tracey Bates (second from left) during the opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles on Sept 22. RENA LI / CHINA DAILY
By RENA LI in Los Angeles
renali@chinadailyusa.com
The opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has added a new cultural landmark to Los Angeles, bringing together film, illustration, comics, murals, architecture and landscape while creating a new space for cross-cultural exchange.
Founded by filmmaker George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, and his wife, Mellody Hobson, the museum opened to the public last month with a sold-out first day. Designed by Chinese architect Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, the 28,000-square-meter museum traces visual storytelling across cultures and centuries, from cave paintings to cinema and murals.
For Ma, the project also represents an opportunity to bring ideas rooted in Chinese architectural tradition to a major United States cultural institution. He conceived the building as a “floating cloud”, allowing the landscape and public space to flow beneath it rather than placing a conventional architectural box in the middle of the park.
Ma said his approach was influenced by contemporary technology, traditional Chinese gardens and his childhood experience in Beijing, where lakes, gardens and buildings coexist closely.
"As a Chinese architect, I'm really influenced by traditional Chinese architecture, for example, gardens," he said. "The future building should be something new. You don't repeat the wood structure, the sloping roof, but you should continue to create space, connect to nature, to human emotion."
He said the idea travels across cultures because the relationship between people and nature is universal.
"When I bring this idea to the US or Europe, people love it because nature is a universal topic," Ma said. "Traditional Chinese architecture already talked about this ... about emotion and spirituality. It's beyond sustainable and environmental concerns."
For Ma, the Lucas Museum became a way to demonstrate that architectural traditions from China can inform a contemporary global design language without simply reproducing historical forms.
The museum calls Ma's design a form of “emotional architecture”, blurring the boundary between building and park and encouraging visitors to experience the architecture before entering the galleries.
The cross-cultural collaboration also extends to the museum's artistic mission.
"I've spent more than 50 years collecting the work of artists who don't always get their due, illustrators, cartoonists, muralists, painters, because I believe their images are as vital as any other art form," Lucas said at the opening. "They deserve to be in a museum."
The permanent collection holds more than 40,000 works, while the inaugural exhibitions feature more than 1,300 pieces across media and historical periods. The galleries place popular and fine art in the same narrative tradition, bringing together artists such as Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, Robert Colescott, Frank Frazetta and Robert Crumb with film materials from the Lucas Archives.
Ryan Linkof, senior curator and head of film programs at the museum, said China offered many avenues for exploration.
"As such an important part of world culture, China would of course be a place where we could find all kinds of avenues to explore," he said. "Certainly, going forward, we have a lot of opportunities for that."
For visitors, the blend of architecture and art is already part of the experience.
Adira Vasquez, who attended the opening, described the building as both modern and futuristic, saying its curving profile sharply contrasts with the nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
"You see a sports stadium there, it's very iconic, the LA Coliseum, and then you turn and you see this little piece of art of architecture right next to it," she said.
ASEAN needs closer ties to face economic strains: Experts
By YANG WANLI in Bangkok yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn
As energy, trade and supply chains increasingly become tools of geopolitical competition, Southeast Asian countries have less room to hedge, experts say, adding that the challenge is to translate common principles into coordinated action and, ultimately, results.
The World Trade Organization said in a report last month that geopolitical tensions, government intervention, technological rivalry and supply chain concerns are putting greater pressure on rules-based trade.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations published its Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026-2030 earlier this year, identifying geopolitical tensions, changing trade flows, technological transformation, climate change and demographic shifts as major forces shaping the region, while calling for deeper integration and greater resilience.
Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and a former Thai commerce minister, said the shift from globalization to global fragmentation posed both risks and opportunities.
Disruptions caused by United States trade policy shifts are pressuring markets, he said, but ASEAN's economic integration provides an important buffer.
Speaking at a recent seminar held by think tanks FACTS Asia and the Institute for Strategic Policy, Narongchai said intra-ASEAN trade has held at about one-fourth of the region's total trade and continued to grow despite external shocks.
However, resilience is not simply about trading more within the bloc, he said. It also requires letting market forces determine the allocation of scarce resources, particularly energy.
The challenge is substantial. The ASEAN Centre for Energy projects final energy consumption will reach 2.6 times its 2022 level by 2050 under its baseline scenario, while the bloc could become a net gas importer by next year.
Narongchai called for regulatory reforms covering oil and gas production, electricity generation and transmission, demand management, data centers and renewable energy, saying greater flexibility would help ASEAN meet rising energy needs while remaining competitive.
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Shared risks
Benjarong Suwankiri, an adviser to Thailand's deputy prime minister and finance minister, emphasized the importance of a stable environment in which companies can keep investing despite geopolitical uncertainty.
ASEAN has “opportunities and also the responsibility to work together” to strengthen energy and food security, Benjarong said.
The region faces shared risks — from geopolitics and climate change to AI and demographic shifts – that cross borders and require concerted efforts, he said.
Regional cooperation could include advancing the ASEAN Power Grid, extending digital frameworks to AI governance, and developing common standards and markets for carbon credits, he added.
Kirida Bhaopichitr, vice-minister of commerce of Thailand, said ASEAN should not retreat from global markets but make itself a more reliable part of them.
"We must integrate not just for internal trade but to build a resilient, globally connected supply chain capable of withstanding disruptions," Kirida said.
ASEAN's market of more than 650 million people provides a strong foundation, she said, but the region must deepen both internal integration and links with external partners if it wants to remain a competitive hub for global trade and investment.
3 states step up joint defense as threats grow
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkiye pledge rapid troop moves amid Houthi attacks
By JAN YUMUL in Hong Kong and CUI HAIPEI in Dubai, UAE
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye agreed on Monday to immediately implement their collective-defense commitments under the Mecca Defense Alliance, as fighting in Yemen intensified and security risks mounted across the Middle East.
The announcement came the same day Saudi Arabia's aviation authority said two airports in the country — King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport and Najran International Airport — had been targeted, injuring three people and causing property damage.
Emergency response teams and relevant authorities immediately launched responses in line with approved procedures and plans.
Yemen's Houthi group claimed on Tuesday that it had launched a fresh ballistic missile strike on Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, disrupting air traffic as cross-border hostilities continued to intensify, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Houthis said late on Monday that they struck airports, an oil facility and military sites across Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones, while the Saudi-led coalition said it had foiled a Houthis plot targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea.
In a televised broadcast, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group had carried out three operations in Saudi Arabia. The first targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The second hit an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, a Red Sea coastal city, and caused a fire, he said.
The third targeted Abha International Airport, King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, the Aqifa military camp in the southwestern Asir region, and other “vital sites” in Najran and Jazan, he added.
Following an emergency meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Makkah Alliance for Defense in Riyadh on Monday, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye issued a joint statement saying the committee had appointed Pakistani Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood as the alliance's first secretary-general for a three-year term.
The alliance, a collective-defense partnership among the three countries, is also known as the Mecca Defense Alliance.
The alliance will take the necessary measures to provide military forces and ensure their rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia, the statement said.
The three countries also condemned attempts to target Mecca and Medina, as well as continued attacks on Saudi cities, civilians and economic facilities.
Last month, several US media outlets reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, had sought assistance from US President Donald Trump for military attacks against the Houthi group, but that Trump had refused to intervene or make a direct pledge of military support.
However, speaking to the media at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US has a defense and security agreement with Saudi Arabia and “we intend to live by it”. He declined to discuss further details.
Rasha Al Joundy, a senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Centre in the United Arab Emirates, told China Daily that the Iran war has heightened the Houthi threat to Saudi Arabia, prompting a push for more regional approaches to defense.
"This will increase while the threat persists, while Trump is trying to put distance between his policy in the Strait of Hormuz and what is happening in Yemen, so he doesn't open another straits clash for the US in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb," she said.
Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned Houthi attacks on facilities at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport and Najran International Airport in Saudi Arabia.
It is important for the international community to assume its responsibilities and adopt a decisive stance against these attacks, he said.
Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com
Rent unrest
A demonstrator holds a sign reading "End landlords' greed" during a protest against evictions and high rents in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday. MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP
Briefly
SWEDEN
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Francis Halzen wins Nobel physics prize
Belgian physicist Francis Halzen on Tuesday won the Nobel Prize in physics for work on subatomic particles at the South Pole, the award jury said. "This year's prize is about ghostly messengers from space," Ellen Moons, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, told a news conference. Halzen was honored "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin", the jury said.
NIGERIA
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Plane crash death toll lowered to 25 from 32
The Nigerian Air Force on Tuesday lowered the death toll from its plane that crashed a day earlier to 25 from 32, as it released the victims' names — which included civilians — and said no survivors were found. Flight "NAF 931 had 25 persons on board, comprising five crew members and 20 passengers", Air Force spokesman Ehimen Ejodame said in a statement, adding, "No survivors have been found."
AGENCIES - XINHUA
Left: Musicians perform during a fusion jazz concert featuring the Chinese guzheng and piano on July 14 in Beijing to mark the 20th anniversary of the Cervantes Institute. Inma Gonzalez Puy, who directed the institute's initial development, is back from the institute's Shanghai branch as director of the Beijing branch. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Right: Inma Gonzalez Puy poses at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2007.
A Spanish envoy's lifelong journey in China
Arriving in Beijing in 1979 with a curiosity sparked by literature, Inma Gonzalez Puy has spent a career weaving deep, enduring cultural ties between the two countries
tant, little-known, and largely imaginary reality."
Inma Gonzalez Puy at the Cervantes Institute in Shanghai.
By YANG RAN
yangran1@chinadaily.com.cn
Inma Gonzalez Puy of Barcelona has for decades been living in China and fostering connections between Spain and China. Therefore, it is with some conviction that the director of the Cervantes Institute in Beijing says, “Cultures are one of the most powerful tools for connecting different societies.”
The Barcelona native's connection with China began not with a plane ticket but with a book. In her teenage years, she stumbled upon Spanish translations of works by Pearl S. Buck and Lin Yutang — writers who painted vivid images of a country she had never seen.
"In 1970s Spain, books about China were scarce. Yet those few volumes sparked a deep curiosity about a distant and mysterious land. In a way, they were what set me on this journey to China," she recalls.
That journey became reality in 1979, when Beijing began recruiting international students from Spain for the first time. Gonzalez Puy, then a university student, seized the opportunity and applied to study at the Beijing Language Institute — now Beijing Language and Culture University.
"Those readings opened the first imaginary door to China for me," she says. "Later, when I arrived in 1979, I discovered a reality far more complex and captivating than any literary depiction."
Her studies cemented her resolve to live in China. In 1983, Gonzalez Puy returned to work at the Spanish embassy in Beijing, where she would spend 20 years — first as a translator, then as cultural attache. "Those were pivotal years for the consolidation of bilateral ties, and my professional career unfolded almost in lockstep with contemporary China's transformation," she says.
"Those years convinced me that culture is not merely a supplementary element of diplomacy, but one of its most profound instruments. An exhibition, a book or a film can open pathways of understanding that endure for generations."
Throughout her career, Gonzalez Puy has championed this belief through tangible projects. In 1995, she curated a groundbreaking exhibition of Chinese avant-garde art in Barcelona, introducing more than 30 Chinese contemporary artists to a European audience.
A decade later, she helped organize a special exhibition of exquisite bronze artifacts from the Shanghai Museum in Barcelona — the first of its kind in Spain. “I hoped to create opportunities for more foreigners to experience the charm of Chinese culture firsthand,” she says. “I felt honored to curate such a meaningful exhibition.”
Beyond introducing Chinese culture to Spain, Gonzalez Puy is also adept at spotting Spanish cultural elements in Chinese society.
Perhaps her most unique endeavor began in 2013 when she unearthed a forgotten gem: the first Chinese translation of Don Quixote by Chinese scholar Lin Shu from a century ago.
What made Lin's translation unique was that he neither spoke nor read Spanish. He learned of Don Quixote's adventures through his assistant. Fascinated by the idealistic knight, Lin produced a wildly creative adaptation, reshaping the plot, transforming Spanish expressions into Chinese idioms, and infusing the text with local flavor.
Gonzalez Puy was determined to rescue this forgotten translation and take it to Spanish readers. She found Alicia Relinque, a renowned Sinologist and professor of classical Chinese literature at the University of Granada, to undertake the meticulous task of translating Lin's Chinese rendering back into Spanish.
The translation was published in 2021. “It’s been a double homecoming,” Gonzalez Puy said, noting not only the return of Don Quixote to his roots but also the first republication of Lin’s text in China since 1934, by the same original publisher.
This project, embodying a dialogue between Chinese and Spanish cultures, captures precisely what
Gonzalez Puy believes the Cervantes Institute exists to do.
"The true value of culture lies precisely in this dialogue," she says. "The Cervantes Institute is not a window through which one culture observes another — it is a table at which both sides sit down to talk."
Gonzalez Puy was, in fact, responsible for preparing the establishment of the Cervantes Institute in China.
"I had the honor of directing the initial development of the Cervantes Institute in Beijing from the day it opened on July 14, 2006. Now, returning to the position of director on the occasion of the Beijing Cervantes Institute's 20th anniversary feels like reuniting with a project into which I poured a significant part of my career."
After decades of fostering China-Spain cultural exchanges, Gonzalez Puy sees many commonalities between the two cultures: both are ancient civilizations with an outstanding artistic heritage and rich historical legacies, a shared emphasis on interpersonal relationships, family, gastronomy as a social ritual, respect for tradition, and respect and tolerance in their attitudes toward others.
She describes the evolution of bilateral relations in recent decades as transformative.
"When I first arrived in China in 1979, Spain's knowledge of China was still very limited," she says. "For many Spaniards, China was a dis-
Today, the landscape is dramatically different. “China is part of daily international reality,” she says, highlighting the surging interest in its language, history, culture and society.
Spain now hosts more than 10 Confucius Institutes and is seeing an increase in the publication of ancient and contemporary Chinese literature in translation, she says. "An increasing number of young Spaniards are learning Chinese, recognizing its professional value in a globalized world."
Through four decades of working in various capacities, from cultural specialist at the Spanish embassy to director roles at the Cervantes Institute in Shanghai and Beijing, Gonzalez Puy has been a direct witness to China's rapid development.
"I have had the privilege of witnessing China's reform and opening-up, the transformation of its cities, economy and society, and its extraordinary cultural evolution," she says, words that carry the weight of a life lived at the heart of that transformation.
More than 40 years later, China's allure for her remains undiminished and perhaps even deeper than when she had first arrived. "What keeps me connected to this country, I believe, is curiosity," she concludes. "It remains a place where there is always something new to discover and learn, a place that is constantly changing." It is, in her eyes, a country that never stops reinventing itself.
Catalan, Chinese ceramic traditions inspire each other in fusion art
Left: Jaume Ribalta practices traditional Chinese painting. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Right: Jaume Ribalta applies colored glaze to a qinghua porcelain vase with a brush.
By LIU JIANQIAO
liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn
A ceramic artist from Spain has found more than a workshop in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. He has found a home. Drawing on both Chinese and Spanish artistic traditions, Jaume Ribalta has forged a distinctive style through his work, and his journey has become a testament to cultural exchange between the two countries.
Ribalta grew up in Tarrega, a small town in Catalonia, Spain, with a long-standing ceramic tradition and close to Barcelona. His artistic journey began when he was just 8, when he joined the first Petit Taller, or Little Workshop.
One of his earliest memories is of a bathtub filled with paint and clay, a childhood scene that would become the starting point of his lifelong relationship with art and ceramics.
"To a child, it looked like the remains of a performance by a maverick painter. It was a strange and magical place, and I immediately felt that I wanted to explore it," he says.
"Ceramics had already been part of my childhood. I visited my grandparents' house, which contained many vases and porcelain plates. But at Escola Massana, a school of art and design in Barcelona, I began to understand ceramics more consciously, not only as a craft, but as a language combining drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, design and time," he says.
Ribalta came to China in 2017 to work as an art educator, but teaching was only part of what drew him here. During his holidays, he traveled around the country, studied Chinese calligraphy and traditional painting, and sought to deepen his understanding of Chinese culture.
"I had been fascinated for a long time by cobalt-blue porcelain. I told myself that I would not leave China before finding the place where qinghua (blue-and-white) porcelain was made. My first years were spent mainly in Jiangsu province, particularly in Rugao and Nantong, where I learned from local artists and craftspeople. I studied the brush, rice paper, calligraphy and the symbolic language of traditional Chinese painting," he says.
When Ribalta first arrived in
Jingdezhen in 2019, he felt an immediate sense of recognition. After traveling through different parts of China and learning to see the
country through the lens of diverse artistic traditions, he felt that Jingdezhen was the place where many of the questions that had shaped his artistic journey could continue to unfold.
"What struck me most was that the tradition was alive. Jingdezhen was not simply a museum or a historical attraction. It was a working city where people continued to practice skills passed down through generations. The continuity between the past and the present moved me deeply," he says.
In 2022, Ribalta moved his studio permanently to Jingdezhen. He had come to China as a teacher, but stayed on as a student, a role the city continues to remind him to embrace, showing him that there is always more to discover, learn and explore.
Ribalta says his work brings together visual elements from his native Spain with traditional Chinese ceramic techniques, including blue-and-white porcelain and red underglaze decoration.
"For me, it is a deeper dialogue. I am not interested in simply placing a Catalan symbol beside a Chinese symbol. That would be only a visual combination. What interests me is what happens when two traditions come in contact and begin to change one another," he says.
In one of his masterpieces, My Cherry Tree, Ribalta uses a tree to connect Catalonia and China. The cherry tree in his Jingdezhen studio reminds him of the almond trees near Tarrega, where his father taught him, as a child, to crack almonds with a stone and fly kites. At the same time, it evokes the plum blossoms celebrated in Chinese poetry. The image belongs to both places and also to something more universal: longing, resilience, spring and renewal.
“For me, cultural fusion is not an ornamental strategy. It is a way of understanding identity. I have not abandoned one origin to adopt another. Living far from Catalonia, I have been able to look back at it with new eyes. At the same time, China has given me new materials, techniques and ways of seeing,” he says.
Ribalta chose the swallow as a symbol of “a Spaniard living in China”. The bird migrates across borders, yet always finds its way back to familiar places. For him, it mirrors his own journey: leaving Spain for China and gradually putting down roots in Jingdezhen. The swallow, like Ribalta himself, belongs to more than one place.
"The swallow remains an important symbol for me because it represents both migration and memory. It travels between places, but it also returns. In My Cherry Tree, the swallows express movement, attachment and the possibility of belonging to more than one place," he says.
"In the future, I would like to continue exploring the relationship between Chinese and Catalan ceramic traditions. Besides, I also want to tell stories about contemporary life in China, not only historical or symbolic stories. These objects may appear ordinary, but they contain important memories about how people live," he says.
READ
WHEN AI STARTS READING FOR PEOPLE
By LI YANG
liyang@chinadaily.com.cn
Technology can transform education, but not by replacing human learning
Books can disappear in many ways — burned, neglected or left unread. Now they can be bought, cut apart, scanned and turned into data. This unsettling
process is Anthropic's Project Panama. The company plans to acquire vast quantities of physical books, remove their bindings, digitize their pages and discard the originals. Internally, the project was described as “our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world”.
tion. The public may own the shelves, but a private company owns the intelligence trained on their contents.
The controversy is not simply about whether a paper book can be cut up, nor only about copyright. It raises a fundamental question: what happens when the world's written inheritance is increasingly consumed by machines?
AI promises easier reading. It translates difficult passages, explains unfamiliar concepts, compares books, answers research queries and provides summaries in seconds. In education, it acts as tutor, translator, examiner, lesson planner and research assistant. It can give a child in a remote school access to resources once available only to students with expensive tutoring.
But the more efficiently machines perform the informational part of reading, the greater the possibility that humans will abandon the cognitive work that made reading valuable in the first place. The question is whether AI will help people read better — or render reading unnecessary.
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The educational shortcut
AI's role in education is compelling, especially when educational resources are scarce.
China's iFLYTEK is an instructive example. In Zhejiang's Kaihua county, a school with only six classes and 72 students has combined online lessons from master teachers with local teachers and AI-assisted learning. In the Xizang autonomous region, AI teaching systems and digital courses are being used to connect students with educational resources beyond their isolated surroundings. The premise is simple: technology can partially bridge the gap in the geographical distribution of teachers and educational resources.
The company's intelligent assessment system collects examination papers, assists with grading, preserves original papers and analyzes students' learning patterns. Its guiding principle is revealing: "AI handles whether it is correct; teachers handle what is good."
The company's “virtual scientist” takes the idea further. Instead of simply giving students an answer, it uses heuristic questioning and visual question chains to encourage them to work through a problem themselves. An AI tutor that says “the answer is X” saves time; one that asks “why do you think it is X?” educates.
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Educating or informing
LI YANG / CHINA DAILY
AI's educational promise meets its deepest risk here. The technology that brings world-class lessons to a child in a remote school can also mediate that child's understanding of the world. The algorithm that helps discover forgotten books can influence which forgotten books are "rediscovered" and which visible books disappear into obscurity. The AI tutor that patiently explains a difficult concept can also become the default authority.
Schools have incentives to experiment with AI, which saves teachers time and gives students quicker answers. But the problem is that efficiency makes unnecessary precisely the skills education should teach.
In a 2024 paper coauthored by Huettig and Morten Christiansen, a professor of psychology at Cornell University, the authors argue that large language models may exacerbate declining literacy but can also support it when used critically and when educational systems encourage productive interaction rather than passive consumption. They conclude that the future of literacy is too important to be left entirely to tech companies.
That last point is crucial. The question is who shapes the relationship between AI and human intelligence. If AI becomes the intermediary between people and knowledge, then decisions about training data, retrieval, recommendation, ranking, moderation and answer generation shape the architecture of knowledge. The old librarian pointed toward the shelves; now algorithms decide what to take from the shelves. And it does not need to screen explicitly to exercise that power. Ranking is enough.
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Keeping the reader in the room
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The limits of reading machines
None of this makes a case for keeping AI out of education. On the contrary, iFLYTEK's example demonstrates why AI has a legitimate educational role. It expands access to teachers, reduces routine work, analyzes learning patterns and helps students in places where educational resources are limited.
Reading difficult books is inefficient, and that's the point. Serious readers don't just absorb conclusions. They get lost, reread paragraphs, disagree with authors, change interpretations and sometimes discover the original question was misguided.
Falk Huettig, a senior investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has spent years studying how literacy affects cognition. His 2026 book The Perks of Being a Bookworm synthesizes research showing that reading shapes memory, attention, language processing and reasoning, going well beyond the acquisition of factual knowledge. In a recent interview, Huettig warned against students relying on AI summaries. An AI condensation may deliver facts, he said, but it removes the linguistic structure and complexity through which readers exercise working memory and abstract thinking. He warned that avoiding complex texts means missing important forms of cognitive training.
This is why a summary of War and Peace is not War and Peace. The problem is not just Leo Tolstoy's word count. Reading a long novel requires remembering characters, holding competing views, detecting irony, tolerating ambiguity and constructing meaning gradually. A summary gives the destination without the journey.
The virtual scientist offers perhaps the best model: AI should not always supply answers; it should push students to think harder. The same principle should govern reading. AI can clarify difficult texts without replacing them, challenge a student's argument rather than compose it, recommend sources without becoming the source, and expose competing interpretations instead of flattening them into one polished answer.
Historian Zhao Dongmei of Peking University likens reading to “searching”: entering a book with questions and confronting evidence, arguments and contradictions. Dai Jinhua, a culture researcher at PKU, argues for “reading thick before reading thin” — understanding a text’s intellectual, historical and literary networks before reducing it to a few conclusions.
AI excels at producing “thin”. It can condense 500 pages into 500 words, 50 words or five bullet points. This is useful, but a culture that always opts for the five bullets may eventually forget why the 500 pages mattered.
Skills atrophy without practice. If students never formulate arguments, remember complicated narratives, struggle with difficult paragraphs or construct sentences from scratch, they may finish assignments but become less adept at the cognitive activities underlying it.
The distinction is between assistance and substitution. When a student asks AI to explain a difficult chapter after reading it, AI can deepen comprehension. When the student asks AI to replace the chapter altogether, the educational transaction changes. The machine hasn't merely helped with reading. It has done the reading.
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From reading to parroting
The issue gets more complicated when AI enters the attention economy. Consider ByteDance's TikTok and Douyin. Algorithmic platforms can both encourage and undermine reading. TikTok's #BookTok community is a significant force in book discovery. According to NielsenIQ BookData and Media Control data cited by TikTok, more than 50 million books recommended by the #BookTok community were sold across major European markets in 2025. More than one-third of the respondents aged 16 to 39 in the surveyed markets discovered new books through the platform.
This is algorithmic reading's optimistic side. A teenager sees a video about a novel and buys it. A recommendation opens a door. But there is another possibility: the recommendation becomes the experience itself.
Books become plots. Novels turn into emotional reactions. Philosophy becomes “five lessons”. History is reduced to dramatic anecdotes. A difficult work is pre-interpreted before the reader can form an opinion.
AI amplifies this compression. Why read the book when a chatbot can explain it? Why examine evidence when a model summarizes debates? Why wrestle with ambiguity when the machine offers smooth interpretations? This leads to pseudo-reading: the feeling of acquiring a book's knowledge without the experience of reading it.
Sune Lehmann, a cognitive scientist at the Technical University of Denmark, has drawn a clear line. Regarding AI-generated literature, he states: "I don't want to read anything written by AI. Period." The reason is not just technical. For him, fiction and poetry are ways of connecting with another human being and entering a universe created by another person. One may disagree with Lehmann's personal boundary, but his point highlights that reading is more than just information. It is an encounter. But then the question is how do you determine if your meeting is with AI or with a human, when AI becomes the prevailing content creator.
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The new educational inequality
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Algorithm tells you what to read
The point is algorithms are now part of the infrastructure through which people access information. A traditional library gives the reader shelves. A search engine provides a ranked list. A recommendation algorithm offers a personalized stream. A generative AI system goes a step further: it delivers interpretation without opening the source. An algorithm doesn't need to dictate thoughts. It only needs to influence what appears first.
AI can bridge gaps, but also create new divides. One obvious divide is access: who has a computer, reliable connection and AI subscription. A subtler divide is competence: who can use AI critically.
If a book is recommended 10 times and another just once, the platform has not banned the second. If one interpretation tops every search while another is buried several pages down, no one has prohibited the second interpretation. Yet the user's intellectual environment has changed. AI intensifies this by merging recommendation and interpretation. Instead of merely saying, "You might like this book", the model may say, "Here is what this book means". That is a much deeper form of mediation.
Orhan Agirdag, a professor in education at KU Leuven, introduces “prompting literacy” to describe this new capability. Drawing on French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital, Agirdag argues that differences in prompting proficiency may replicate educational inequalities. It’s not simply about writing better prompts; it is about interacting effectively and critically with AI as a socially distributed skill.
Students ought to read a difficult chapter before asking for a summary; the AI, in turn, ought to solicit their interpretation before offering its own. They can then compare its explanation with the original text and identify what has shifted. Teachers, likewise, can require learners to confront contradictory arguments rather than let the machine harmonize them. The best educational AI may thus be the one that knows when not to make learning effortless.
tion. Another simply types: "Write my essay." Both have AI, but not the same education.
This creates a curious hierarchy. One student uses AI as a debating partner, independently writing an essay before asking the model to challenge its assumptions, identify gaps and construct an opposing interpreta-
This distinction matters because AI can make the second approach appear successful. The outcome may be polished and plausible, earning the student good grades. But the intellectual process education should cultivate is outsourced. AI literacy must mean more than operating a chatbot. It must include knowing when not to use one.
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Who owns the library of the future
That brings us back to Project Panama. The most revealing aspect of the episode is not that Anthropic wants books but that it was seeking high-quality text produced by humans. As AI-generated material spreads across the internet, training on the outputs of previous models risks recursive contamination. Human-authored books therefore become valuable as relatively stable reservoirs of language, argument and knowledge. Some people call text written after 2022 "AI-polluted text".
That changes the paradigm of the library. For centuries, libraries collected books so that people could read them. In the AI economy, books become inputs for developing proprietary systems.
The legal question is narrower than the cultural one. In a United States copyright litigation, a judge ruled that Anthropic's training of models on lawfully acquired books could be fair use, while the acquisition of allegedly pirated books was a separate issue. Anthropic subsequently settled for \$1.5 billion over pirated works.
Legality is not cultural wisdom. A book can be legally destroyed but still be culturally valuable. A physical book doesn't just contain words. It has provenance, marginalia, typography, illustrations, ownership marks and a history of readers. Most books are not rare, but scholars cannot predict which forgotten edition, obscure pamphlet or marginal note will become significant.
Digitalization preserves information but changes the access control. When millions of books feed proprietary models, the public library undergoes a remarkable transforma-
That principle also offers a way to understand Project Panama. The deepest concern is what happens when vast cultural resources become inputs into privately controlled systems that influence how the rest of society encounters knowledge.
For centuries, knowledge was produced through a long chain of human activities: reading, writing, arguing, teaching, editing, publishing, reviewing and remembering. AI is now entering every link in that chain. It can read, summarize, recommend, interpret and even write a book based on what it has absorbed from millions of others.
And algorithms decide what knowledge millions of people are most likely to encounter. At that point, the issue is who controls the algorithms between human beings and knowledge as their training data, ranking mechanisms and interpretive priorities are not necessarily transparent.
That is the real risk of AI controlling knowledge production. The danger is not a robot sitting in a library and forbidding people to open books. It is something quieter. People may continue to have access to every book in the world — while increasingly encountering those books through summaries, recommendations and interpretations through purposely designed filters.
Nothing is banned. Nothing is burned. Nothing is formally screened. But the route from the original text to the human mind has acquired a new gatekeeper. Project Panama offers a powerful metaphor for this transformation. Physical books are cut apart so that machines can absorb their contents more efficiently. The next question is whether the human reader will gradually be cut out of the process in the same way.
AI should help us read more, not read instead of us. It should help us ask better questions, not eliminate the need for questions. It should expand access to knowledge without becoming the final authority over what knowledge means.
The original promise of mass literacy was to put knowledge in the hands of ordinary people. The AI age could fulfill that promise on an extraordinary scale — or quietly reverse it, if people become dependent on machines to decide what knowledge matters, what it means and what deserves their attention.
The answer should be to ensure that humans continue to read, question, compare and disagree.
‘Rose Doctor’ cultivates China’s blooms for the world
A host conducts an evening livestream at Tianlang Rose Garden in Changshu, Jiangsu province, on May 10. Online sales peak after nightfall, with livestreams often continuing into the early hours of the following day. PHOTOS BY YU PING / FOR CHINA DAILY
A foreign rose expert admires Chinese roses in full bloom at Tianlang Rose Garden on May 1.
Right: An employee hand-pollinates a Chinese rose at Tianlang Rose Garden on May 10. Hand-pollination is a technical task that requires employees to start early and work late to complete the process within about a month.
“Good morning, rose lovers! I'm Tianlang. Today, I'm going to introduce some new varieties ...” Jiang Zhengzhi, owner of the Tianlang Rose Garden in Zhongjing village, Changshu, East China's Jiangsu province, chats with his followers during a livestream in his distinctive northeastern Chinese accent.
"Selecting varieties, pollinating, promoting sales and hosting experts from across the country — it's the busiest time of year," Jiang says. His workday begins at 7 in the morning, when he heads to his breeding base, which covers 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares).
Eighteen years ago, Jiang relocated his rose-growing business, operating under the brand “Langrosa”, from Northeast China to Changshu and founded Huaguan Yuanchuang Horticulture Technology Co Ltd. The company now has more than 200 employees, maintains a collection of more than 8,000 Rosa germplasm resources, and holds intellectual property rights to more than 250 independently bred varieties of Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis).
"Moving from Northeast China to the Jiangnan region brought us closer to our customers. Although the hot, rainy climate here can be very challenging for growers, the business environment is good. The local government goes out of its way to help companies overcome difficulties," Jiang says.
Known as the “Rose Doctor”, Jiang is a self-taught expert who grew up working the land. The Chinese rose varieties he has bred have received recognition at multiple world rose conventions.
The company has established technical, research and development partnerships with seven international breeding companies and has sold more than 200,000 pots of its Chinese rose varieties to countries including Australia, India and Singapore.
"We hope the roses we breed will be more environmentally friendly, generate greater returns for people working in the industry and inspire more young ‘new farmers’ to develop a passion for the future of agriculture," says Jiang, who describes himself as young at heart.
Smiling as he speaks about the future, Jiang says: “Chinese roses became popular around the world in the 18th century. I hope our generation can make the world bloom with Chinese roses.”
CHINA DAILY
Jiang Zhengzhi speaks in front of cameras at Tianlang Rose Garden on May 10. He posts daily rose-care tips on multiple online platforms and has more than 6 million followers.
Left: A foreign expert savors the blend of lemon and rose fragrances given off by Qingmeng, a new Chinese rose variety, at Tianlang Rose Garden on May 1.
Villagers remove Chinese rose buds at a facility using low-maintenance growing methods in Changshu on May 10. The garden provides seasonal work, including pruning and flower arranging, for more than 100 local villagers each year, helping boost household incomes.
TREND
By LI HONGYANG
lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn
Standing atop Chijia Mountain above the Yangtze River in Chongqing's Fengjie county, known as Kuizhou during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Chen Xiangying finally understood why Du Fu, the great poet, produced hundreds of poems despite spending only about a year and nine months there.
She had not come merely as a sightseer, but as a reader, following the geography of classical Chinese poetry.
Chen, a 39-year-old university lecturer in ancient literature from Yan'an, Shaanxi province, said the experience of visiting the places she had read about was completely different from reading about them in books.
"When I actually got there, I felt very different. Du Fu's poems suddenly appeared in front of me. He wrote, 'The Chijia and Baiyan peaks rise, both piercing the sky'. And then I understood why Du Fu wrote those poems," Chen said.
Chen's experience is part of a broader shift in China's domestic tourism market, as growing numbers of urban residents turn away from megacities and popular ancient towns and toward county-level destinations in search of unpolished landscapes, living cultural memories and a slower pace of life.
In August, Chen and a friend traveled to Fengjie and Wushan counties in Chongqing.
"They're small counties, but the cultural accumulation is incredibly deep. Not only Du Fu, but also poets like Li Bai and Bai Juyi passed through and wrote about them," she said.
What also moved her was the sense of stepping out of time.
"The streets still look like the 1990s or early 2000s. In a second you're back in childhood. It's completely different from Shanghai or Beijing. Here, you can still see the past, including old restaurants, old buildings and places with stories."
In the counties, Chen noticed that the ride-hailing drivers she met seemed genuinely content.
“They were not exhausted, not like drivers in big cities. One driver warmly shared some local knowledge with us and gave us a glimpse into everyday life in the area,” she said.
"Small restaurant owners worked briskly and cheerfully. We'd watch what locals ordered and order the same."
But county rhythms are not urban rhythms. If visitors miss the meal window, there may be no food available. The famous local buns, for example, were sold out by 9 am, she said.
"I had a wonderful time, and I ate very well. It's worth going, not because food and lodging are cheap, but because the experience is real."
She was also impressed by the way the Wushan Museum presents local history.
The exhibition begins with the railway station, which holds particular significance for the county.
One display hall is dedicated to Wushan's new high-speed railway station.
"Wushan did not have a railway station before. Now it has high-speed rail. People are genuinely proud. They even built a mock train carriage that visitors can step into and photograph."
The museum also showcases prehistoric archaeological sites in Wushan, something that may be unfamiliar to visitors from outside the area.
"It is very impressive," Chen said.
Small counties across China are emerging as a major growth engine for the country's tourism market, as visitors increasingly turn away from crowded big-city attractions in favor of slower-paced and more authentic experiences.
Nonlocal spending in county-level destinations rose 14.1 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to a report by the China Tourism Association.
The trend has been driven by what Chinese travelers call “treasure towns” and “county trips”, with searches for such getaways surging over the summer.
Searches for “county trips” to popular destinations jumped 110 percent this summer holiday year-on-year on travel booking platform Qunar, according to company data.
For example, Hui'an county in Fujian province, known for its women's culture and distinctive traditional dress, reported an increase in visitor numbers.
Hui'an received about 2.89 million tourist visits in the first six months of 2026, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to local media.
In the first seven months of this year, Zhejiang's Anji county welcomed about 21.6 million tourist visits and generated more than 30 billion yuan (\$4.47 billion) in tourism revenue, according to the county government.
Its appeal begins with its natural setting. More than 70 percent of the county is covered by forest, with bamboo groves stretching across the landscape and tea plantations scattered across the hillsides, the county said.
These examples show how varied the appeal of county travel can be. That appeal can also be found in the smaller, everyday details of county life.
For Fu Bingqin from Beijing, the prices he encountered in Linzhou, a county-level city tucked into the Taihang Mountains of northern Henan province, were not simply star-
Tourists watch an intangible cultural heritage dance performance on Yuke Grassland, at an altitude of 3,800 meters, in Daofu county, Garze, Sichuan province, on July 23. The growing popularity of county-level tourism destinations is drawing increasing numbers of visitors to the area, while hundreds of social media bloggers livestream the performances, allowing more than one million people to experience the charm of highland intangible cultural heritage from afar. LI XIANGYU / FOR CHINA DAILY
Take me home, county roads
tlingly cheap. They were his first sign that he had entered a different kind of China.
One and a half yuan for three steamed stuffed buns. Two yuan for a bowl of hot and sour soup.
Fu, who traveled by motorcycle through places including Linzhou, said county-level destinations offer a compelling mix of distinctive culture, mountain scenery and architectural heritage.
Linzhou offers an attractive combination: the Red Flag Canal, built largely by hand by about 100,000 people in the 1960s and now a symbol of their determination; the dramatic Taihang landscape of gorges and cliffs; and the city's identity as China's "hometown of architecture".
"We didn't just pass through. We wanted to understand a place more deeply," Fu said.
"One evening we went out to eat and came across a street lined with mahjong parlors. Everyone was inside playing, and the whole pace of life and people's energy felt totally different. I was honestly envious.
"There was no rush, and no one had that tired, drained look you often see on people coming out of the subway after work. The street felt alive with the rich flavor and warmth of everyday life. People just seemed to eat well, play well and really enjoy themselves," he said.
Fu said it is rare to see unrenovated 1980s architecture these days. But in small county-level places, the past is still present, giving them a nostalgic feel.
Many of these places once boomed. Then their populations shrank, and the towns were not urbanized as quickly as the big cities.
Fu shipped his motorcycle to Zhengzhou, Henan province, in April before setting out with fellow riders on a weeklong journey through the Taihang range.
Linzhou was just one stop along the way. The trip ran from Zhengzhou to Handan, Hebei province, before the group returned to Beijing by rail.
Fu came away from the journey with some practical thoughts on county tourism.
His advice is straightforward: put traffic police at busy spots and build better hotels.
"County tourism depends on good accommodation. If people have a nice place to stay, they'll stay longer," he said.
Ma Yiliang, deputy director of the China Tourism Academy, said the growth of county travel reflects a desire for distinctive experiences.
"These days, travelers are increasingly drawn to county-level destinations, where tourism services are underdeveloped and the overall experience is far from polished. Visitors get the feeling that time stretches out, and they naturally slow down into a relaxed, unhurried state.
"At the same time, these counties retain more authentic spaces and traditions that haven't been over-commercialized, giving people a genuine sense of vitality," he said.
However, beyond brand building, more efforts should be made to improve public services and tourism quality so that tourists are attracted by the authentic appeal of county-level cultural tourism, Ma said.
Meanwhile, the business environment should be further improved to attract more market entities to develop local tourism at the county level, he added.
More tourists from cities going off the beaten track in search of raw places, authentic experiences and a slow-paced life
Above: Visitors watch a dance performance along the Gongshui River in Xuan'en county, Hubei province, on Sept 4. The county hosted a traditional ethnic sports event, where athletes compete in various events alongside a series of performances showcasing intangible cultural heritage, attracting large numbers of visitors. SONG WEN / XINHUA Below: Tourists ride camels and enjoy desert scenery at the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic area in Dunhuang, Gansu province on Aug 28. ZHANG XIAOLIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY
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Small towns and rural areas reel in visitors
County-level destinations have emerged as a major growth driver of China's tourism market in the first half of this year, according to a report released by the China Tourism Association.
The report said data from Meituan, a leading Chinese e-commerce and local services platform, showed that spending by out-of-town visitors in county areas rose 14.1 percent year-on-year, with average spending per transaction reaching 58 yuan (\$8.64), about 50 percent higher than that of local residents.
The report also highlighted the popularity of trips to so-called “hidden gem towns” and “county-hopping” itineraries. During the Spring Festival holiday, the first batch of 11 designated hidden gem towns in Anhui province, including Shexian and Xiuning counties, recorded a 26.5 percent increase in tourist arrivals and a 28.2 percent rise in tourism spending from a year earlier, both above the provincial average.
County-level destinations elsewhere are also attracting visitors through live entertainment and distinctive local experiences. For example, Nandan county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has developed a thriving performance scene, helping bring greater attention to the lesser-known destination. In Guangdong province, a rural development initiative has boosted interest in trips featuring ancient villages, lychee orchards and coastal campsites.
Improved transportation networks are also giving county tourism a lift. Newly opened highways have removed access barriers to remote scenic spots and helped channel growing numbers of tourists to them, the report said.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, meanwhile, has guided 113 counties in pilot projects aimed at supporting rural revitalization through cultural industries. It is encouraging a range of small but distinctive tourism offerings, from farming study tours to self-driving camping and folk custom experiences, while improving the quality of seasonal rural tourism routes.
The ministry said it would continue to expand tourism consumption scenarios, helping ensure that smaller cities and counties remain vibrant parts of China's travel market.
Ma Yiliang, deputy director of the China Tourism Academy, said counties do not have to rely on high-grade scenic areas or star-rated hotels to attract visitors. A single scene, event or story that goes viral online can also translate into real-world visitors.
"As many tourist destinations develop, they become increasingly alike — with similar pedestrian streets, imitation ancient towns, tourism performances and theme parks — and the visitor experience is diluted to some extent," he said. "County-level tourism may have modest facilities, but it offers a more distinctive and well-rounded experience, which is why it appeals to so many travelers."
LI HONGYANG
Insured robots becoming irreversible wave
Flexible policies cover design defects, errors in installation, operation; serve as hedge against any financial losses
A robot falls in a 100-meter race during the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Aug 25. An increasing number of insurers are offering coverage for robot hardware and operational risks. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY
Maintenance team members use a stretcher to move a humanoid robot after it falls in a 100-meter race during the second World Humanoid Robot Games on Aug 25. LINTAO ZHANG / GETTY IMAGES
By LI JIAYING
lijiaying@chinadaily.com.cn
At the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, which wrapped up on Sept 13, a robotic hand came equipped with an unusual accessory — an insurance policy.
The Y-Hand M2, which is designed to mimic the dexterity of a human hand, has added insurance to its working essentials. Its developer — Beijing-based Yue Quan Bionics Ltd — signed an insurance agreement with China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co's property and casualty arm during the event, providing coverage for the hand and any losses it may cause.
The idea is straightforward. "If an accident or natural disaster damages the hand while it is being used or stored, the policy provides coverage. It also covers losses caused by defects in design, installation or materials, or by operator error," said Zhou Ai, a staff member at the insurer's Beijing branch.
The protection reaches beyond the hand itself. It also includes injuries to third parties or damage to their property during use, Zhou said, adding that the product acts as an industry first for key components of embodied intelligent robots.
Behind the paperwork lies a familiar worry for anyone buying expensive high-tech equipment — what happens if it breaks? Especially with humanoid robots and other emerging forms of physical AI that carry out real-world interactions with humans, the concern also extends beyond the machine itself to the people and property around it.
In fact, insurers are beginning to offer answers, with coverage for individual components, rented machines and robots whose original warranties have expired.
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When warranties expire
The problem begins with parts that wear out and warranties that run their course.
"The core precision components of intelligent robots wear relatively quickly (compared with other physical AI end products), while manufacturers' warranties are limited," said Chen Jian, head of the technology insurance subcenter at PICC Property and Casualty Co's Beijing branch.
“Once equipment is out of warranty, repairs and replacement parts are expensive, which to some extent constrains the industry’s expansion and commercialization,” Chen said.
Established last month, Beijing's intelligent robot insurance consortium is designed to address that gap. Gathering PICC's Beijing branch and several other insurers, its first policy focuses on equipment breakdowns after the manufacturer's original warranty expires, providing services including repair and replacement protection.
For a manufacturer, the arrangement can support an extended-warranty promise without leaving it to shoulder all the uncertainty over future repairs. For the customer, it helps address the cost of keeping the machine in service after the original guarantee has ended, Chen said.
"It helps robot manufacturers ease the financial pressure and operating risks of extended warranties, improve after-sales services and make their products more competitive," he said. "It also helps buyers using the robots allay maintenance concerns, lower the cost of trial applications and accelerate the deployment of robot technology in practical settings."
The account puts after-sales support at the center of the insurance proposition: manufacturers need to maintain what they sell, while customers need confidence that a malfunction will not leave them facing an unaffordable repair or replacement.
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Insurance by the day
For businesses that need a robot for a particular assignment rather than a permanent addition to their operations, renting offers a way to put the technology to work without committing to a purchase. Insurance is thus beginning to accommodate that flexibility, with policies tailored to shorter engagements and machines that move between customers.
For example, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co's Jizhibao product, designed for commercial humanoid robot applications, allows customers to purchase coverage by the day, week or month, aligning the period of protection with the length of an assignment.
In another way, PICC has worked with robot rental platform Sharebot since December 2025 to offer coverage for damage to machines along with third-party liability, with no fixed operating address within the Chinese mainland mandated in the policy — a provision that accommodates robots moving between customers and venues.
The commercial opportunity is backed by substantial market performance. According to iiMedia Research, China's robot rental market stood at about 1 billion yuan (\$149 million) in 2025 and is expected to top 10 billion yuan this year, representing an annual growth rate exceeding 900 percent. For rental operators serving this market, the economics of each booking depend partly on managing the repair bills and liability claims that an accident could bring.
The scale of coverage is already becoming visible at the platform level. Sharebot said that by April 24, more than 1,000 robots on its platform were insured, with aggregate cover exceeding 200 million yuan. According to domestic media reports, the platform purchased annual policies at premiums typically running to several thousand yuan per robot.
“Embodied robotics insurance is a prerequisite for a viable robot rental business model. It is more than a policy, but also an essential part of the industry's infrastructure, connecting insurers, robot manufacturers, service providers, partners and end customers,” said Li Yiyan, CEO of the robot leasing platform. “For us, every robot on the platform must be covered by insurance and brought into our risk management system."
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Pricing unfamiliar risk
Writing a policy requires an estimate of a loss that has not yet happened. For insurers entering robotics, there is relatively little past precedent to base assessments upon.
Guo Jinlong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Finance and Banking, pointed to the absence of a public risk database, which makes emerging risks difficult to quantify, while limited product standardization and high costs make it harder to match coverage to customers' needs.
“Moving from insuring individual machines on an ad hoc basis to covering batches of robots through rental arrangements can help insurers draw on data from actual use to overcome data barriers and fragmented demand,” said Guo.
He added that by pooling data from rental platforms and operating environments, insurers and their partners can jointly develop models that better capture risk, supporting dynamic pricing and real-time risk management, which would help refine pricing methods that have traditionally relied on manufacturers' data and past experience.
Determining liability is another challenge, as responsibility can be difficult to untangle when developers, manufacturers, rental companies, users and algorithm providers are all involved, particularly in the absence of dedicated regulations and judicial precedents.
In this regard, a consortium could provide a framework for insurers to share risks and develop services jointly.
"It brings several insurers to a business that would otherwise place the burden of underwriting on a single company," Chen at PICC said.
The Beijing intelligent robot insurance consortium now extends to arranging repairs and replacements when equipment fails. By bringing financial protection and after-sales support together, Chen said, the shared approach helps address both the concentration of risk in extended-warranty business and the practical difficulties of delivering such coverage.
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Building a lasting market
Government measures are beginning to address existing barriers from both sides of the insurance market, helping insurers build the data needed to assess and price risk while making coverage more affordable for the businesses buying it.
In March, four central government departments, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, issued measures encouraging dedicated insurance for embodied intelligence. They called for model policy clauses, better data accumulation and differentiated pricing, as well as professional insurance pools in selected technology fields with substantial, insufficiently dispersed risks.
"It systematically answers whom to cover, what to cover and how," Guo said, adding that they also targeted the problem of fragmented policies by establishing coordination across departments.
Guo also highlighted provisions for insurers to share major risks and combine their underwriting capacity, as well as simpler, more affordable products intended to bring smaller technology companies into the insurance market.
In addition, local measures are reducing the cost of taking out coverage. Ningbo, Zhejiang province offers qualifying businesses subsidies of up to 80 percent of premiums for humanoid robot application insurance, capped at 2 million yuan. The policy took effect in July 2025 and runs through the end of 2027.
Elsewhere, Zhejiang's Hangzhou has an ordinance on embodied intelligent robotics, effective May 1, which encourages insurance products suited to the industry and market-based risk sharing across research, production, sales and application. Shanghai's technology insurance guidance also identifies humanoid robotics as a field for tailored protection.
“Driven by continued policy support and expanding industry demand, technology insurance is growing in scale, offering a wider range of products, developing a deeper supportive ecosystem and taking increasingly distinct regional forms,” Guo said.
The effort is part of the nation's broader expansion in the protection of technological innovation, with policies reaching into research spending, the commercialization of new technologies and intellectual property.
Tian Lihui, director of Nankai University's institute of finance and development, expects the measures to change how that protection is delivered. Tian said he sees a shift from “passive claims settlement” to “active support”, with insurers helping businesses manage and reduce risks before losses occur.
According to NFRA data, China's technology insurance sector provided about 8 trillion yuan in coverage in 2025, while premium income rose 44 percent from a year earlier, providing a solid ground for the policies now being written for robots and their components.
Tian also anticipates a move from “working alone” to “ecosystem collaboration”, as insurance pools and shared data platforms help providers tackle pricing difficulties.
Looking forward, for a business putting a robot to work, those changes may be felt in practical ways: whether suitable cover is available, whether the premium is affordable and how efficiently a damaged machine can be assessed when a claim is made.
Rising ‘baji’ mania redefining cultural collections
By LI JIAYING
A favorite character today, a pet tomorrow: small screens are giving China's badge collectors a new way to wear their affections, while testing how much such collections' emotional appeal can now be digitized.
Baji, a term derived from the English word “badge” via Japanese, usually refers to small metal pin badges featuring characters from animation, comics, games and pop culture in general. Often displayed on bags, they form part of the “guzi economy”, which covers merchandise derived from anime, games, novels and other intellectual property.
A conventional baji carries a fixed image, while an electronic version replaces the printed surface with a small screen, allowing users to switch images, animations or short videos. Some products also double as camera monitors, remote controls or other smart accessories, while newer models are experimenting with virtual pets and artificial intelligence interaction.
Major consumer electronics brands have joined the rapidly expanding niche market. Oppo's 499-yuan (\$74.5) Bubble uses a 1.73-inch screen and supports photos, live images and short videos, while also serving as a rear-camera selfie monitor with wireless preview. Honor's 599-yuan Magic Mini Screen combines customizable displays with photo previews, remote shooting and fill-light functions. Insta360 has taken a different route, putting a color e-ink display on its Mic Pro wireless microphone, which starts at a standard retail price of 698 yuan.
“Manufacturers are shifting from one-off hardware sales toward cultivating customer lifetime value,” said Ma Jihua, an independent communications and internet analyst.
Electronic baji are more than just hardware — digital content such as wallpapers, skins and AI characters could be sold on an ongoing basis, helping companies build broader brand ecosystems, Ma said.
Their arrival comes as technology brands look for new ways to connect with younger consumers beyond conventional hardware specifications. According to market consultancy iiMedia Research, China's guzi economy reached 202.1 billion yuan in 2025, up 20 percent year-on-year, and is projected to exceed 300 billion yuan by 2029.
For some users, the appeal lies precisely in replacing a pile of physical collectibles with one changeable screen. One social media user said her badge collection filled three boxes when she moved house. With an electronic badge, she can switch pictures or animations with a tap of a finger, while avoiding the weight and worry of damaging physical badges when attending anime conventions.
Another user loaded a photo of her dog onto the screen, saying it allowed her to “take my little furball everywhere” — an example of how the product can function as a personal digital keepsake rather than conventional fan merchandise.
Yet the flexibility to switch among images, animated effects and short videos does not necessarily replicate the satisfaction that comes with collecting physical badges.
A consumer tries out an electronic baji while shopping at a store selling digital accessories and trendy toys in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, on Aug 1. SHI BUFA / FOR CHINA DAILY
Another commenter argued that paying extra for conventional merchandise buys recognition among fellow fans and a way to support official releases. An interchangeable image, in this regard, delivers neither benefit automatically.
Ma said the appeal of traditional baji lies largely in their scarcity and the sense of ritual that comes with collecting them — something that can be diluted when the format turns digital.
"The product does represent an upgrade and reinvention of traditional badge culture, and it can create some additional value. But it is unrealistic for major consumer electronics brands to expect it to bring in a significant number of new users," Ma said.
Price is another consideration. Branded electronic badges can cost several hundred yuan apiece, while generic versions offering basic image and video display functions can sell for around 100 yuan or less.
"If these products cannot continue to deliver emotional value and build a sustainable ecosystem, their high premiums may come to be seen as an attempt to cash in on young consumers, eroding trust in branded accessories," said Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research.
Oohs and aahs are increasingly filling up the sky
Under a canopy so dense that the Milky Way seemed to spill across the heavens, a father and his son stood on the grasslands, their heads tilted back in shared awe. "It's so beautiful. I want to
come back to see the stars again," says Liang Jiacheng, who traveled with his father to Ming'antu town in Zhengxiangbai Banner, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, from Hohhot, the regional capital 400 kilometers away.
"It's nothing like the city sky, where bright lights and haze blur the stars. In Ming'antu, with little pollution, the dazzling stars are brighter than anything we see back home," Liang Tian, the father, says.
During the day, they enjoyed views of rolling grasslands dotted with cattle and sheep. The pair also viewed the radio telescopes at the Ming'antu Observing Station, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Space Science Center.
At a stargazing cultural and tourism camp near the station, many tourists come for stargazing, astrophotography and study tour programs, especially during peak summer months. Visitors recline on rotating lounge chairs to gaze at the stars, or admire the night sky from rooms fitted with telescopes and roofs that slide open on tracks.
"The region is exceptional for astronomical sightings, an arid climate, clear skies, low pollution, and ideal stargazing," says Liang Hua, head of the stargazing camp. The camp offers part-time jobs to local villagers whose income previously depended on animal husbandry.
A novice stargazer can gain basic astronomy knowledge at a domed planetarium, where simulations show the evening sky and how the constellations shift over time. He says cultural content should be woven into stargazing experiences, noting that stargazing is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture, from the 28 mansions in Chinese astrology to ancient observatories.
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Awestruck by the spectacle
Ming'antu is not an isolated experience. More destinations are turning dark skies into tourism resources nationwide, combining stargazing with natural scenery, cultural heritage, science popularization, study tours, and astrophotography.
In 2019, Geyuan town, Jiangxi province, was designated a China conservation area for dark and starry sky. In recent years, urban visitors from neighboring cities have been flocking to Shiqiao village in Geyuan to enjoy the natural scenery, climb Mitoujian Peak, view wind turbines, hike the ancient trails, watch the sunrise and sunset, and stargaze.
In addition to an observatory on the top of Mitoujian Peak, guests can stargaze in Cipo Hengfeng's yard, a high-end minsu (Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast hostel) in the village. Its street lamps stay dim and angled downward, minimizing light pollution and leaving stargazing virtually unaffected.
“Most visitors are young, usually born in the 1990s, who bring their children,” says Deng Ke, the hostel manager. It employs local villagers and sources produce from nearby farms, spreading the benefits of stargazing tourism. “As a local, I studied and worked away for years and hadn’t really seen the stars in a while. Here, you can look up and see the same starry sky from childhood,” Deng says.
Far to the northwest, the Pterosaur-Yardang Dahaidao Scenic Area in Hami, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is an ideal location for stargazing and astrophotography because of its vast, varied wind-eroded Yardang landforms and minimal light pollution. Stargazers can spot the Milky Way over the Yardang formations. Astrophotographers pair these dramatic landforms with celestial subjects to create one-of-a-kind photographs.
Every year, the Sweet Whispers to the Galaxy Festival in Hami attracts astrophotographers and drone photographers from across the country, reinforcing Hami's reputation as a premier stargazing destination.
“Bright stars cluster to form the Milky Way, reminding us of the ancient Silk Road. Dahaidao was an ancient byway of the Silk Road, where travelers and merchants navigated by the stars,” says Beijing-based astrophotographer Wang Junfeng, a co-founder of the China StarVision Alliance, a domestic platform for nearly 1,000 Chinese astrophotographers.
He says that ancient Chinese people observed and studied celestial phenomena, drawing a wealth of cultural knowledge closely tied to daily life. Many folk traditions are deeply linked to star patterns.
"We want to share the beauty of the starry sky, improve ourselves in the process, and help others capture their ideal night sky images. It encourages us when we see people lay eyes on a star-studded sky and become filled with awe and excitement," says Wang, who leads stargazing group trips.
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Astrophotography booms
Meanwhile, a fast-growing community of astrophotographers is changing how the public sees the night sky thanks to their magnificent photos. Jiang Chenming, a co-founder of the China StarVision Alliance, says that astrophotography is boosting stargazing tourism.
“Once people can photograph the stars, they want to get closer to them and learn more about astronomy. This is also expanding the communities of both astrophotographers and astronomy enthusiasts,” he says.
He notes that a major catalyst is the rapid improvement in smartphone cameras. Astrophotography once required high-end professional cameras, but improvements in modern handsets, including better low-light performance, make it possible for ordinary people to capture the Milky Way using just a phone and a tripod.
Jiang says CSVA astrophotographers nationwide post their finest starry-sky photographs to raise public awareness of the cosmos. These striking visuals inspire the public to venture outdoors and observe the stars themselves. Once visitors reach stargazing locations, demand surges for lodging, dining and astronomy-education programs. That demand, in turn, attracts investment for supporting tourism infrastructure.
“Many stargazing sites are not destinations at first. A photographer finds an angle, presses the shutter, and makes the site famous. Increasing visitor interest then prompts local governments and investors to build scenic areas and homestays. In turn, improved reception attracts more photographers.”
Stargazing tourism in China is still in its early stages, and its systematic, rapid development began only around three years ago, after a long incubation period, Jiang adds.
Yet China's advantages are distinctive: a vast consumer market, various landforms that pair well with the night sky, and a profound Chinese constellation culture. "The biggest remaining gap is public awareness. Encouraging more people to look up is the priority."
Through better infrastructure and amazing snaps, travelers are choosing nighttime destinations for their next vacation, reports Xu Lin.
Top: The Milky Way across the sky above the Pterosaur-Yardang Dahaidao Scenic Area in Hami, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Above: The Milky Way hangs over the Ming'antu Observing Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Space Science Center in Zhengxiangbai Banner, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. PHOTOS BY LIU BING / FOR CHINA DAILY
Stargazers find answers in detailed urban guide
By XU LIN
Imagine wanting to stargaze in your city, but not knowing where to go, how to observe, what to see each season, or who to ask for tips. With the newly published China Stargazing Guide, such worries are a thing of the past.
The guide, which claims to be the country's first original stargazing guidebook rooted in China's geography and based on firsthand information, comes from three years of fieldwork by more than 200 astrophotographers and science communicators nationwide.
The China StarVision Alliance, or CSVA, a domestic platform for nearly 1,000 Chinese astrophotographers, collaborated with Posts & Telecom Press to compile the guide.
The guide is organized around three questions that puzzle most stargazing beginners: when to look, where to go, and how to observe.
The first section explains the characteristics of each season's night sky. The second details more than 500 stargazing sites in and around 34 cities, helping urban readers find the ideal spot, with firsthand stargazing information and hand-drawn maps marking key sites. The third is a step-by-step guide to observing the stars, with celestial knowledge and hands-on tips.
China Stargazing Guide answers basic questions for beginners. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
According to the guide, one of downtown Beijing's most iconic stargazing sites is the Meridian Gate, or the Forbidden City's south entrance. On clear nights, once the complex's exterior lighting switches off, you can spot many bright stars above the gate.
For Beijing suburbs, the guide recommends places such as the ancient Changyucheng village in Changping district, with the Great Wall nearby, and the Baihua Mountain scenic area in Mentougou district which offers stargazing opportunities on and at the foot of the mountain.
The book targets urban readers, especially those in provincial capitals and second- and third-tier cities.
With the book, readers can choose the best-suited stargazing destination and season and gain basic knowledge of the starry sky, including what causes meteor showers.
Each of the more than 300 astrophotographs featured in the book, taken nationwide, was shot on-site with professional skill, turning the stargazing guide into a printed showcase of China's most beautiful night skies.
“What makes the guide so valuable is that it is not one person’s vision of the starry sky, but a collective undertaking by hundreds of astrophotographers, science communicators and on-the-ground pathfinders,” Gou Lijun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Astronomical Observatories, wrote in a blurb about the book.
"For the first time, those who photograph the stars, those who understand them, and those who know the land beneath their feet have been brought together. Through footsteps, lenses and years of patient watching, they have mapped more than 500 verifiable stargazing sites across the country, telling readers where the stars are, when to watch them, and how. For public stargazing and astronomy education, this is a guide truly grown from China's own land and night sky," Gou wrote.
Jiang Chenming, a co-founder of the CSVA, says the hardest part of the book project was collecting information. "More than 500 stargazing sites are listed in the book, which means an enormous amount of firsthand, detailed information. It's very time-consuming to collect, verify, edit, and process all the information for each site."
HOLIDAYSPORTS
FOOTBALL
Zidane, Mancini get first home wins
As France and Italy lead the way in Nations League Group AI
Above: Riccardo Calafiori rises to score Italy's second goal during its UEFA Nations League match against Turkiye in Bologna, Italy, on Monday. Below: France's Michael Olise (11) celebrates scoring his side's third goal with Desire Doue during a Nations League match against Belgium at Stade de France in Paris on Monday. AP / REUTERS
France left it late to beat Belgium 4-1 in the Nations League, as Zinedine Zidane got his first home win as the national coach on Monday.
In a 14-minute flurry, goals from Desire Doue, Rayan Cherki and a brace from Michael Olise, who all came on as substitutes, completely turned the match around for France, which trailed until the 77th minute.
“Tonight, this is soccer, this is what we love,” Zidane said. “We faced some difficulties in the first half, but that’s part of the game; it’s the kind of match you get from time to time. It’s good to set things right — which is what we did — and we managed to play an extraordinary second half.”
The win reinforced France's control of Group A1, three points above Italy, which beat Turkiye 3-1.
Third-placed Belgium slipped four points below France. Turkiye has no points.
Zidane started his time in charge of Les Bleus with wins over Turkiye and Belgium, before being held to a draw by Italy on his home debut as France boss on Friday.
"It's a collective effort, too," Olise said. "He (Zidane) brings in ideas, we follow them — we've done that well over the last four matches, we're going to continue like this.
"I think we played well at the end. The first half was difficult, but we kept going and we're happy," Olise said.
The Bayern Munich winger has been France's most influential player in the early stages of Zidane's reign, netting four times in his last three matches, despite starting only once.
France is still to book a spot in the quarterfinals. It would have been assured of one of the top two places in the group if Italy had failed to beat Turkiye.
---
Bench to the rescue
At the Stade de France, Belgium took the lead in the 35th minute. Dodi Lukebakio broke the offside trap to run onto a magnificent, long pass from Romeo Lavia, raced through one-on-one with debutant French keeper Guillaume Restes and powered it over him and into the back of the net.
But Zidane's star-studded bench turned things around. Doue leveled in the 77th with a low shot into the bottom right corner, and Les Bleus took the lead in somewhat strange fashion four minutes later.
Maarten Vandevoordt appeared set to save Cherki's strike, but the ball hit the Belgian goalie's foot and rebounded in off his left arm. Olise set that up and added two goals in three minutes himself to seal the match.
"We knew the substitutes could change the game because they are high-quality players," Zidane said. "But, once again, it was a complete team performance; while the substitutes might have made the difference when they came on, everyone has been good over these past two weeks — everyone played their part, and that's what stands out to me.
"We talk about Olise because he scored, and Desire came on and scored — every player who came on scored — which means it was the right call."
---
Azzurri rebuild continues
In Italy, Roberto Mancini was also looking for a first home win. He began his latest stint in the Italy dugout with a loss in Rome to Belgium before morale-boosting away performances against Turkiye — where the Azzurri won 4-1 — and France.
Turkiye was under pressure after scoring just one goal and conceding eight in its three matches. It was also missing key players, but, nevertheless started brighter in Bologna.
However, Italy took the lead against the run of play in the 26th. Gianluca Scamacca attempted to knock down a cross and it bounced off a Turkish defender's shoulder before falling kindly back to Scamacca, who volleyed it in off the underside of the crossbar.
Aral Simsir swept in a deserved equalizer for Turkiye in the 61st, but Italy was back in front just three minutes later when Riccardo Calafiori headed in Nicolo Barella's free kick.
Pio Esposito sealed the win late on when he tapped in Alessandro Romano's shot. Esposito became only the second Italy player to score seven international goals before his 21st birthday.
“Even though we had made a lot of changes, there was fatigue all around, and we struggled a bit,” said Mancini, who started with recent debutants Romano and Issa Doumbia in midfield and the previously uncapped Antonio Vergara on the right wing.
"But we did well to score, and then to score again right after they equalized.
"We have to keep playing. We're currently in second place, and we'll likely have to fight to secure that spot in Belgium."
Italy is rebuilding under Mancini, who has returned for a second spell as coach after Italy failed, again, to qualify for the World Cup.
---
Gyokeres scores again
Viktor Gyokeres extended his record Nations League scoring streak to seven games to fire Sweden to a 1-0 win in Romania.
It was a fourth of the campaign for Gyokeres, who broke the record on Friday.
Sweden tops Group B4 and is two points above Bosnia and Herzegovina, which beat Poland 1-0.
Northern Ireland remained on top of Group B2, despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Georgia. Hungary beat Ukraine 2-1 and sits second.
AGENCIES
Chinese teenager Sun Xinran (right) shakes hands with Coco Gauff of the United States after their China Open women's singles third-round match at the National Tennis Center in Beijing on Monday. XINHUA
Sun Xinran celebrates winning a point during Monday's China Open third-round match against Coco Gauff. XINHUA
By XING WEN
xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn
“It felt like I was playing a girl who’s gonna be a really great player for many years to come.”
That was two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff's verdict on China's 16-year-old Sun Xinran after their third-round meeting at the 2026 China Open ended 7-5, 6-1.
It wasn't said in the afterglow of a routine win.
The 22-year-old tour veteran was pushed hard. At times, she was even outplayed.
She even admitted she had “no idea how to play” Sun going into the match.
The home crowd that packed into the stands surrounding the Diamond Court at the National Tennis Center in Beijing on Monday night had barely settled before Sun gave it something to roar about.
The opening two games saw both players trade service holds that lasted six minutes apiece.
Gauff then drew first blood, breaking to love for a 2-1 lead. Sun, though, hit back immediately, breaking in turn to pull level at 2-2, before holding serve to edge ahead 3-2 — an aggressive stretch of play that sent the arena into a frenzy.
Sun, who reached the junior finals at both Wimbledon and the French Open this summer before winning the US Open junior title, earned a wildcard into the China Open to make her WTA Tour debut.
She made the most of it, too, taking down Eva Lys in the first round, after the German retired with Sun ahead 6-1, 3-0, then knocking off world No 35 Cristina Bucsa of Spain in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday, setting up a clash with the third-seeded Gauff, the 2024 China Open champion.
"She doesn't have any major weaknesses. She can get a lot of balls back and play aggressively. She hits it really flat; kind of reminds me of Jess (Pegula) a little bit," said Gauff.
"Today, she was hitting her forehand line really well. Obviously, she has a great backhand, too. (She) killed me on a couple of backhand crosses."
The two locked into a long rally in the 10th game of the first set — Gauff's service game, with Sun leading 5-4.
Gauff lost the point, which would have handed Sun a 30-15 lead and moved her two points from a break.
However, Gauff raised her hand to stop play, pointing to a flickering light in the side panels lining the court.
The point was replayed, Gauff won it and she took the next three points to hold for 5-5. She closed out the set, then dropped just one game the rest of the way.
The incident seemed to unsettle the Chinese teenager, and cameras caught her in tears as her fortunes slipped away.
"I felt I had a pretty good chance to take the first set, but my emotions affected my game in the second set where I felt a bit like I was falling apart," Sun reflected at her post-match news conference.
"I lost my confidence and I didn't know what to do."
Gauff's hindrance call also sparked heated debate on social media, and Gauff later posted on X to explain the call, insisting it was a challenge within the rules.
"I apologized for the situation at the end of the match, and she completely understood. I did not like to see her so emotional, as I've been there and I really understand what it is like, but this is just the beginning of an incredible career," Gauff wrote.
Looking back on the first steps of her WTA journey against elite opponents, Sun said she noticed many differences between senior players and juniors.
"They know how to change the rhythm, and their serve is much better than mine. I will try to improve myself, and I will try to improve my
“
It felt like I was playing a girl who's gonna be a really great player for many years to come. She doesn't have any major weaknesses. She can get a lot of balls back and play aggressively. She hits it really flat; kind of reminds me of Jess (Pegula) a little bit." Coco Gauff, on Sun Xinran
energy on the court."
Addressing her loss to Gauff, Sun described the result as "expected".
"I think I'll take away a lot from the experience, and do better next time."
Gauff likewise rose up as a prodigy, entering Wimbledon qualifying with a wildcard at 15, reaching the round of 16, and making a Grand Slam singles final at Roland Garros at 18.
She added that she wasn't surprised by Sun's level, having expected the teenager to play "like top 10, top 20 tennis" — and felt Sun lived up to it.
Faced with such praise from a senior player, Sun remained humble. "I'm really happy she said that, and I think I still have a lot to learn from her. She actually achieved more than I have at an even younger age, so I think I still need to keep improving."
Sun said her biggest takeaway will be the growth in her mentality.
"In the past, I might not have started well, but now I keep telling myself that I can do it — those kinds of positive words."
With her mother being a tennis enthusiast, Sun first picked up a racket at the age of six. In 2023, she entered Shenzhen Hongshan Middle School, where she received professional tennis training in tandem with her academic studies.
Sun has lived in Serbia since 2020, training under Goran Zivotic and Goran Krivokuca at the Tennis Park Belgrade for the past five years.
Hou Wendi, Sun's tennis coach at the middle school, recalled that Sun was a hardworking, resilient athlete, who kept practicing her forehand and backhand under the scorching sun, steadily honing her fundamentals.
“Being able to always maintain a hunger for victory is the most important quality in an athlete. The fact that she has made it this far is inseparable from that quality, which is etched into her very bones,” said Hou.
Top talent musters for the Masters in Shanghai
China's Te Rigele greets fans after beating Australia's Adam Walton in Monday's qualifiers for the Shanghai Masters. SHANGHAI MASTERS
By SUN XIAOCHEN
sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn
Even with world No 1 Jannik Sinner sidelined by injury, this year's Rolex Shanghai Masters will remain the apex of men's tennis in Asia, with all the other available stars from home and abroad primed to serve up a real treat for fans.
Sinner's last-minute withdrawal, due to a right knee injury, has, for sure, taken some shine off the lineup, but the Shanghai tournament, as Asia's only stop on the top-tier ATP 1000 series, won't be short of star power when main-draw action swings off on Wednesday at the Qizhong Tennis Center in the west Shanghai suburbs.
The rejuvenated 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who's coming off an impressive run to the final at the China Open in Beijing, will spearhead the star-studded contingent descending on Shanghai, should he make his 12th appearance at the tournament as is widely expected.
The strong field in Shanghai also includes Spain's world No 2 and six-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz, reigning French Open and US Open champion Alexander Zverev of Germany, American US Open finalist Ben Shelton and defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco.
Four Chinese players, Buyunchaokete, Wu Yibing, Zhang Zhizhen and Zhou Yi, have also made it into the main draw through wildcards, and are expected to make the most of the highest-level home tournament to gauge their own progress up against the world's elites.
Former US Open boys' champion Wu, who won China's first men's ATP Tour title in Dallas in February 2023, hailed the instrumental role of elite-level home tournaments in helping to nurture local talent.
“Although we are not as lucky as the European players or the Americans, who have a longer season in their home regions, it’s great that we have 500s, 250s, plus a Masters and multiple Challenger (tournaments) for our younger players to be able to get points early in their careers. I think China has a really great future in tennis,” Wu said at his pre-tournament news conference on Monday.
Wu's own career highlight — a narrow defeat by Alcaraz in the third round at the 2024 Shanghai Masters — is proof of that impact, as the
26-year-old significantly built his confidence by pushing Alcaraz to the limit in a tough 7-6(5), 6-3 win for the Spaniard.
"I still watch highlights of that match sometimes. I think both of us played great tennis. It was my third match of the tournament. I like the court here, (it's a) fast court. I always enjoy playing Carlos. His style, his shots are some of the best on the tour," said Wu, who just represented Team China at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and won a silver medal in men's singles.
“Plus, the fans here were supporting me, and it was maybe one of the best matches that I played in my career. Hopefully, I can do well this year, too.”
Wu will have an immediate chance to test himself in another
David-vs-Goliath battle if he passes his first-round encounter against a qualifier, with the top-seeded world No 2 Zverev awaiting him in the second round.
The top 32 seeds all receive byes in the first round and will play their first matches beginning in the round of 64 on Friday and Saturday.
The red-hot German ace, who has won two majors in 2026, is in the same quarter as Italy's No 7 Flavio Cobolli and China Open finalist Alex de Minaur of Australia, while Djokovic, should he choose to play, will potentially meet Zverev again in the semifinals in Shanghai after beating him in the quarters in Beijing.
China's current top-ranked ace, Buyunchaokete, will clash with 45th-ranked Frenchman Luca Van Assche in their first career match-up, while Shanghai native Zhang, who held the highest ranking of a Chinese man at No 31 in July 2024, will lock horns with his former doubles partner Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in an intriguing opener.
Second seed Alcaraz could meet 15th seed Tommy Paul or defending champion Vacherot in the fourth round, and fifth seed Daniil Medvedev or 11th seed Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals.
Medvedev, a former world No 1 and 2021 US Open champion, will look to redeem himself in front of Chinese fans with some quality tennis in Shanghai after he was disqualified from his semifinal match against Djokovic in Beijing after hitting the ball into the stands in apparent frustration, accidentally hurting a spectator.
The Shanghai Masters, which will conclude on Oct 18, offers a total prize pool of over \$9.4 million, with the singles winner awarded \$1.15 million and 1,000 ranking points.
Before any of the players even reached the court, the four-day inaugural Masters Carnival, which ran from Oct 1-4, left the city abuzz, offering fans opportunities to watch top players practice, explore tennis-themed exhibitions at a dedicated tennis museum, and participate in amateur and junior competitions.
Following its successful debut last year, the popular ACE Pet Zone has also returned, once again creating a welcoming, pet-friendly space for fans and their four-legged companions at a special area at the Qizhong Tennis Center.\*
🔥 一、正在进行的文化现象与时代切片 (Story & Mindset Deep-Dive)
🔥 要闻
中国设计在洛杉矶博物馆呈现新形态
📰 报刊故事还原：9月22日，在洛杉矶卢卡斯叙事艺术博物馆开幕式期间，联合创始人乔治·卢卡斯（中）及其妻子梅洛迪·霍布森（右二）与中国建筑师马岩松（右）以及卢卡斯博物馆首席执行官特雷西·贝茨（左二）合影。 RENA LI / 中国日报
💡 驻外文化与社会背景解码：
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
🔥 要闻
1979年抵达北京，在文学激发的好奇心驱动下，Inma Gonzalez Puy将其职业生涯致力于在两国之间编织深厚且持久的文化纽带
📰 报刊故事还原："tant, little-known, and largely imaginary reality."
💡 驻外文化与社会背景解码：
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
🔥 要闻
加泰罗尼亚与中国陶瓷传统在融合艺术中相互启发
📰 报刊故事还原：左图：若梅·里巴尔塔（Jaume Ribalta）练习中国传统绘画。照片由中国日报提供。右图：若梅·里巴尔塔用刷子为一件青花瓷瓶上色釉。
💡 驻外文化与社会背景解码：
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
该报道刊发于《China Daily - 07.10.2026》要闻版面，折射出当地社会在日常生活与观念层面的真实关注点。
🏛️ 二、本期所在国制度、机构与历史百科 (Local Encyclopedia)
本期专有背景词条已内嵌于正文注释中。
🎨 三、副刊拾遗：文艺、书评、电影与科学新知 (Arts & Science Salon)
🎨 要闻
中国设计在洛杉矶博物馆呈现新形态
9月22日，在洛杉矶卢卡斯叙事艺术博物馆开幕式期间，联合创始人乔治·卢卡斯（中）及其妻子梅洛迪·霍布森（右二）与中国建筑师马岩松（右）以及卢卡斯博物馆首席执行官特雷西·贝茨（左二）合影。 RENA LI / 中国日报
🎨 要闻
1979年抵达北京，在文学激发的好奇心驱动下，Inma Gonzalez Puy将其职业生涯致力于在两国之间编织深厚且持久的文化纽带
"tant, little-known, and largely imaginary reality."
🎨 要闻
加泰罗尼亚与中国陶瓷传统在融合艺术中相互启发
左图：若梅·里巴尔塔（Jaume Ribalta）练习中国传统绘画。照片由中国日报提供。右图：若梅·里巴尔塔用刷子为一件青花瓷瓶上色釉。
🎨 要闻
“吧唧”热潮兴起，重新定义文化收藏
作者：李佳颖（LI JIAYING）
🎨 要闻
震撼于壮丽景观
明安图并非孤例。全国范围内，越来越多的目的地正将暗夜星空转化为旅游资源，将观星与自然风光、文化遗产、科普教育、研学旅行以及天文摄影相结合。