College students provide volunteer services at Xi'an museum during summer holidays

Both international and local students at universities are offering narration and volunteer services during the ongoing summer holidays at the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, an ancient city in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, utilizing their knowledge to promote cultural exchanges and enhance their skills while serving as volunteers.

Carrie, an international student from Britain, assumes the role of a narrator after completing the museum's international volunteer training earlier this year. Following their training, she and her classmates successfully passed the assessment and commenced serving visitors.

"I have never volunteered at a museum before, so this is my first time to serve as a volunteer. The more I speak, the better I get, so I should keep practicing. I can learn more about culture. Xi'an is a great city with a long history," Carrie said.

Besides international student volunteers, there are also a large number of local college students working as volunteers at the museum.

Presently, over 300 local students from 19 universities in Xi'an have formed a volunteer team for the museum, committing themselves to summer volunteer services. Jia Ru, a student at Xi'an Polytechnic University, leads this team. Each morning, she and her team members will show up on time for their posts.

"It's alright to work hard. Feeling a bit more fulfilled in life is the best," Jia said.

So far this year, Xi'an has witnessed 830,000 registered college student volunteers providing services in various walks of life, with a significant number devoting their summer holidays to volunteer work.

College students provide volunteer services at Xi'an museum during summer holidays

The onshore Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened to below 7.10 against the U.S. dollar in August.

In August, the weighted average rate on new corporate loans registered around 3.6 percent, a decline of over 0.2 percentage points from an already relatively low benchmark in 2023.

This indicates that China has continued to lower the overall financing costs and is encouraging financial institutions to pass on profits to the real economy.

The RMB exchange rate has seen an appreciation. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, has retreated from its peak since August, decreasing from above 104 to below 101, marking a new low in over a year with a decline of about 3 percent.

The onshore RMB exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has strengthened from a high point of 7.27 yuan in mid-July to below 7.10 yuan, a cumulative appreciation of 2 percent.

Cross-border funds continued to flow into the Chinese domestic market, maintaining a net increase trend. In August, overseas investors increased their net holdings of domestic bonds by approximately 17 billion U.S. dollars, marking the 12th consecutive month of net inflows.

Onshore Chinese yuan strengthens against USD in Aug