President of Seychelles arrives in Beijing for FOCAC summit

China

President of Seychelles arrives in Beijing for FOCAC summit

2024-09-02 00:38 Last Updated At：14:07

President of Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan arrived in Beijing on Sunday evening to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which will be held in the Chinese capital from Sept 4 to 6.

Located in the Indian Ocean east of the African continent, Seychelles consist of 115 islands of various sizes, with Victoria as its capital. The official languages of the country are Creole, English and French.

Tourism is the largest industry in the Seychelles, and there are abundant fishery resources such as tuna. In 2023, the per capita GDP of the country was about 16,100 US dollars, ranking first in Africa.

China and Seychelles established diplomatic relations on June 30, 1976. Over the past 48 years, bilateral relations have developed smoothly and cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results.

In May 2013, China and Seychelles signed a comprehensive visa exemption agreement, making Seychelles the first country in Africa to sign such an agreement with China.

The two countries have yielded fruitful results in pragmatic cooperation. China's exports to Seychelles mainly include electromechanical products, high-tech products, agricultural products, and steel, and it imports seafood from Seychelles. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries was 104 million U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 14.1 percent.

President Ramkalawan was elected in October 2020. Bilateral ties with China further deepened under Ramkalawan's leadership and Seychelles firmly adheres to the one-China policy.

The upcoming FOCAC summit's theme is "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future." Many African leaders, including Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairman of the African Union Commission, will lead delegations to the summit. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend as a special guest, and relevant international and regional organizations will participate as observers.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the summit’s opening ceremony on September 5.

Following the 2006 FOCAC Beijing Summit, the 2015 FOCAC Johannesburg Summit, and the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit, the upcoming summit will be another happy reunion for the friendly family of China and Africa. It will also be the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years.

"100 Yards" stars share their experience of learning martial arts

2024-09-15 04:40 Last Updated At：08:47

The leading stars of '100 Yards,' a martial arts action movie, spoke in Beijing on Friday at the film's premiere about their challenging yet rewarding experience of learning martial arts.

The story, set in north China's Tianjin City in the 1920s, concerns the fierce fights between the son of a martial club's leader and his leading student.

Xiang Zuo and Tang Shiyi, the leading actor and actress of the film, shared their experience of learning martial arts from Liang Shaohong, their Kung Fu teacher in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, in southern China.

Xiang, a long-time action movie star, said that learning Wing Chun, a concept-based traditional southern Chinese Kung Fu style, and Bazhandao, a series of techniques using a pair of short swords, still posed a challenge for him.

"Wing Chun and Bazhandao use strength in the opposite direction compared with the martial arts I learned before. I had to relearn how to use my strength. So, my martial arts teacher Liang spent a lot of time teaching me, about three to six hours per day," said Xiang.

Tang, a professional dancer with no prior experience in martial arts, said that learning Kung Fu alongside fellow actors and actresses helped forge strong, genuine bonds within the film's production team.

"Because of the movie, director Xu Haofeng invited me to come to Zhuhai, and I am very honored to have learned Wing Chun from martial arts teacher Liang Shaohong. We learned a particular style of Wing Chun, and we learned it step by step from the teacher and the senior martial artists. We were just like a huge family and the atmosphere there was relaxed," said Tang.