The China-Russia "Joint Sea-2024" military exercise officially started at a military port in Zhanjiang City of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday.
At the opening ceremony, the general directors of China and Russia delivered speeches respectively.
The Chinese director said that the two navies have extensive exchanges in professional fields and have been improving their joint naval exercise and training mechanism.
He said the two sides have always been the most important and most reliable partners of each other and have always adhered to forward-looking and efficient development strategies, with bilateral practical cooperation running at a high level.
After the ceremony, the two sides will carry out desktop maneuvers and tactical coordination.
Later, the Chinese and Russian naval fleets will conduct exercises in the sea and airspace near Zhanjiang, including anchorage defense, joint reconnaissance and early warning, search and rescue, anti-submarine, anti-missile operations and air defense, and conduct trainings on the actual use of weapons.
China-Russia naval exercise 'Joint Sea-2024' begins
China-Russia naval exercise 'Joint Sea-2024' begins
A festive atmosphere is building up as people across China have been making preparations to ring in the Spring Festival next week, with lights and decorations set everywhere, and with New Year goods markets all seeing booming sales.
The Spring Festival, which marks the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important annual holiday in China, when people across the country return to their hometowns for Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations and family reunion.
In Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a grand lantern show is in its final stage of preparation before opening to the public ahead of the eve of the 2025 Chinese Lunar New Year. To be lit up on Wednesday, the large light sets presented at the event will draw numerous visitors, with lanterns that replicate 38 cultural relics as the highlight.
Buying New Year flowers has been a custom for Chinese people. In Yancheng City of east China's Jiangsu Province, various flowers which have auspicious meanings are already in high demand.
This year, tulips bred locally have been put on sale, and quickly become a favorable choice for many customers.
"I have never seen this kind of flower before. I think it is really bright-colored. Therefore, I decided to buy some to enhance the festive atmosphere at home," said Zhang Jinjian, a local resident.
The Anchang ancient town in Shaoxing City of east China's Zhejiang Province has a time-honored custom of making aired sausages and spiced duck.
As the Spring Festival draws near, plenty of visitors and tourists choose to purchase these local delicacies as ingredients for their Chinese New Year feast.
"The number of tourists has been increasing, so the sales of our spiced meat have been quite good. Compared with the same period of last year, our sales is expected to increase by about 50,000 yuan (about 6,835 U.S. dollars). We will earn an additional 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (27,335 to 41,000 U.S. dollars) in sales during this whole winter," said Yang Jing, owner of a local spiced meat shop.
In southwest China's Yunnan Province, the "Tiaocai dance" is a time-honored tradition of the Yi ethnic minority group. The dance is presented in the form of serving dishes while dancing to the rhythm. It usually happens on a joyous or grand occasion.
Since the most significant annual festival is around the corner, Yi people have dressed up in traditional costumes, and got ready to welcome the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year with the special dance.
People across China make preparations to welcome Spring Festival