The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy hospital ship "Peace Ark" set sail on Wednesday for a new round of port calls and charity care services across the Indian Ocean.
The Peace Ark hospital ship, known as Heping Fangzhou in Chinese, is the country's first standard ocean-going hospital ship and the world's first 10,000-ton-level professional hospital ship.
It departed from a military port in Zhoushan in east China's Zhejiang Province on the morning of June 16 for Mission Harmony-2024.
During its voyage, the Peace Ark encountered strong gales and torrential rain, which reduced visibility and caused three-meter high waves. Despite these challenging meteorological conditions, the mission crew conducted training exercises for maritime rescue, situation response, and helicopter operations.
"We will organize training sessions for maritime medical treatment and hospital transfers, drills for zoning damage control areas, and the entire maritime hospital process in the coming days. These drills will continuously enhance the capacity of our armed forces to navigate the ocean, laying a solid foundation for fulfilling the mission," said Zhang Yi, a crew member of Mission Harmony-2024.
During the mission, the ship will visit 13 countries including Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa, and offer charity care services to local residents, people of Chinese institutions, and overseas Chinese. It will also make port calls to France and Greece.
Chinese navy's hospital ship "Peace Ark" sets sail for port calls across Indian Ocean
E-commerce is helping farmers in the Aksu Prefecture in the landlocked region of Xinjiang in northwest China to overcome geographical obstacles and sell their produce to consumers across the country.
As the westernmost region of China bordering Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang is thousands of kilometers away from the eastern markets, a despairing distance for local fruit farmers.
"Our apples [used to] make it to domestic markets through traditional ways. The problem is that they have to be picked before they're ripe because of the long transport time," said Zhou Hu, owner of Aksu Qiguo E-commerce.
Zhou runs a company that sells fruits purchased from local farmers to online consumers in live-streaming shows.
"Previously, it might take five to seven days for the apples to arrive. Now with e-commerce, it takes two to three days," Zhou said.
As the business thrives, Zhou has helped raise the income of local farmers.
"We offer farmers 20 percent more of the total price than traditional buyers. That has a direct impact on farmers," Zhou said.
Seizing the opportunity brought about by e-commerce development, Rizwan Guli Erkin opened a store named Ga Beng Cui Dry Fruit Store on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to help her parents sell paper shell walnuts.
"The walnuts are grown by my parents. They only know how to grow them but don't know how to sell. So after college I've helped them with sales," she said.
Another one who has spotted this opportunity and returned home to build local businesses is Zheng Haozhe, CEO of the Future Village, an accommodation business in Onsu County of Aksu.
"I went to the U.S. when I was 14. I started from the ninth grade in high school. The U.S. has given me a very good education, but now, I feel very grateful to come back to my country and keep building my country, especially in a border area in the western area where things are not very developed," Zheng said.
E-commerce helps Xinjiang farmers reach markets across China
