The naval fleet participating in the "Peace and Unity - 2024" joint military exercise between China and Tanzania completed all the subjects of maritime live-fire phase on Tuesday, and returned to the Dar es Salaam Port of Tanzania.
The joint drill, which began on July 29, focusing on anti-terrorism operations, has Chinese and Tanzanian participating troops mixed in different groups.
The maritime live-time phase of the joint exercise was set to maintain the maritime transport safety in the waters east of Tanzania. China's amphibious landing ship Wuzhishan, guided missile destroyer Hefei and four Tanzanian patrol ships formed a fleet and conducted drills in five subjects: main gun firing, joint search and rescue, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy actions, spot checks and arrests, and joint patrols.
Participants said soldiers of both armies yielded meaningful exchanges and improvement through the exercise.
"Before the maritime phase began, our two sides conducted action simulations to fully refine the key points of the action and made adequate preparations for the maritime actual combat phase. Through multi-regional and multi-subject maritime exercises, both sides had deeper exchanges in the professional fields," said Lei Mingzhe, an officer of the mission formation.
Joint China-Tanzania military exercise completes maritime live-fire phase
As the Spring Festival holiday approaches, rural fairs and popular markets in China are seeing a surge in activity as vendors prepare to meet the increased demand for goods and services during the eight-day celebration.
The Spring Festival, which marks the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the biggest annual holiday in China, when people across the country return to their hometowns for Lunar New Year celebrations and family reunions. This year, it falls on Jan 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake.
In Zaozhuang City of east China's Shandong Province, the rural market is already filled with a strong festive atmosphere. People are busy buying couplets and other goods for the Spring Festival, with stalls displaying a dazzling array of products and vendors' shouts filling the air.
The market, which has a history of over 100 years and is held on the forth and ninth days in China's lunar months, has attracted residents from nearby to join in the lively celebrations.
In Luoyuan County of Fuzhou City in east China's Fujian Province, the locally produced yellow croakers are in high demand. Fisherman said 20 million yellow croakers have been freshly harvested and are now available for purchase.
"The fish were put into the lake in spring of 2023 and have now grown to an average weight of about 8 liang (about 0.4 kilograms) each," said Huang Jianfeng, a local fish farmer.
Meanwhile, gold sales continued to boom despite the soaring price, about 634 yuan (over 86 U.S. dollars) per gram as of Monday, as many Chinese consumers buy gold products before the Spring Festival for good luck, or for investment.
Staff at a gold store in Shenzhen of south China's Guangdong Province said that this year is a lot busier than before.
"There has been a great increase in the number of customers and sales this year. At the beginning of last year, we could still cope with the guests. But we feel that we are obviously too busy this year," said Cai Yihan, staff member of a gold store in Shuibei, Shenzhen's renowned gold and jewelry district.
The demand for fresh flowers has also reached its annual high in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
In its provincial capital Kunming's Dounan Flower Market, which accounts for 70 percent of China's national fresh-cut flower trade, its sales peak is expected to last for about three weeks.
This year, new varieties like tulips are gaining popularity and are likely to become the most sold in China, according to the Van den Berg Roses Planting Base in Kunming, a rose grower brand from the Netherlands.
In addition, due to reduced exports from the Netherlands, the main source of tulip imports, China's domestic tulip prices have risen by one fourth compared to last year.
The increased market demand has led to a significant boost in income for local flower farmers.
"The strong market demand has led to a 5 percent increase in income for local farmers compared to previous years," said Guo Xinggang, production manager of the Van den Berg Roses Planting Base.
Festive consumption heats up in China as Spring Festival approaches