China's box office earnings in the first half of 2024 surpassed 23.9 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars), data from the China Movie Data Information Network showed Sunday.
Topping the chart was domestic comedy-drama "YOLO", which tells the story of an unemployed woman in her 30s who still lives with her parents until she meets a boxing coach who may change her life. The film raked in 3.46 billion yuan in box office earnings.
Other hits included comedy-dramas "Pegasus 2" and "Article 20", which pocketed 3.39 billion yuan and 2.45 billion yuan, respectively.
The country's movie industry kicked off the new year with a record high revenue of approximately 1.53 billion yuan (about 216 million U.S. dollars) for the three-day New Year's Day holiday. Box office revenue during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday exceeded 8 billion yuan (about 1.13 billion U.S. dollars), with domestic comedy movies accounting for over 97 percent of the total earnings.
The box office revenue for the summer movie season, which runs from June 1 to August 31, had reached 2 billion yuan (about 275 million U.S. dollars) by Saturday.
More Chinese productions are slated to hit the big screen this summer. Reports show that 88 movies have already been rounded up as of July 19.
China's box office hits 23.9 billion yuan in H1
China's box office hits 23.9 billion yuan in H1
Chinese President Xi Jinping's signed article published in Kazakh media has given inspirations on the world situation and the development of bilateral relations between China and Kazakhstan, according to Kazakh experts.
A signed article by President Xi was published on Kazakh newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda and news agency Kazinform ahead of his state visit to the Central Asian state.
Xi arrived in the Kazakh capital city of Astana on Tuesday to pay a state visit to Kazakhstan and to attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Astana.
In the article, Xi said that the current visit is his fifth to Kazakhstan since he became Chinese president in 2013.
The Chinese president said he hopes this visit will deepen bilateral cooperation, push forward the China-Kazakhstan permanent comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level.
Xi calls for consolidating the political tradition of mutual support, facilitating win-win cooperation, and strengthening bilateral lasting friendship and people-to-people exchanges.
He also said the two countries should work together to handle the crises and opportunities that arise from the fast-changing global landscape, unseen in a century.
The article has aroused warm responses among Kazakh experts, who said that Xi's position on the world situation and thoughts on the development of bilateral relations between China and Kazakhstan are quite impressive.
"I have noticed that President Xi Jinping mentioned in his signed article the important directions for future development of China-Kazakhstan cooperation. The first two aspects are bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics and economy, while the third aspect is to expand the depth and breadth of people-to-people exchanges. What impressed me most is President Xi's position on responding to changes in the world situation and new challenges faced by countries," said Amina Kosbaeva, chief expert with the Institute of Eurasian Integration.
"He pointed out that crises could bears opportunities, and crises could be turned into opportunities. I agree very much. Crises and challenges can also be transformed into the driving force for countries to seek new opportunities and expand cooperation. The SCO is such a platform that provides new opportunities, which is quite attractive with broad areas for cooperation," said the expert.
"President Xi Jinping pointed out in his signed article that China-Kazakhstan cooperation has risen to an unprecedented level. He stressed that the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries has achieved leapfrog development and advanced to the level of permanent comprehensive strategic partnership," said Adikhan Gadelshiyev, deputy head of the Department of Political Expertise of the Institute of Eurasian Integration.
"President Xi wrote in the article that China and Kazakhstan are strong backing to each other that are reliable and dependable, which demonstrates the high level of trust between the two countries," he said.
Kazakh experts say impressed by Xi's position on world situation
