Shanghai Customs has implemented new measures to expedite the clearance of African fruits, offering Chinese consumers a wider variety of fresh, high-quality produce.
A cargo ship, carrying 67.5 tons of apples and oranges from South Africa, berthed at the the Waigaoqiao Port Area in Shanghai last Wednesday, following the completion of border inspection and entry procedures.
Customs officials have taken active measures to make the fruits enter the local market on the same day.
"Under the premise of strict implementation of plant quarantine supervision requirements, we've improved efficiency and completed inspection quickly to ensure that qualified fruits imported from Africa can enter the market as soon as possible," said Luo Zhen, deputy chief of No.10 inspection division of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area Customs under Shanghai Customs.
Thanks to the close economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa, Chinese people now can enjoy more and more high-quality agricultural products from the continent.
Since the beginning of this year, the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area Customs has inspected 2,298 tons of fruit imported from South Africa, such as grapefruits, oranges, pears and apples.
"I have tried oranges from South Africa, and I think they taste good," said Lu, one of the customers.
"Compared with domestic fruits, African fruits have different taste, they have their own special flavor. I often choose some imported varieties to have a taste," said Zhang, another customer.
Shanghai Customs speeds up African fruit imports
The Montreux Jazz Festival China opened on the shore of Jinji Lake in Suzhou on Friday, providing an audio-visual feast to jazz fans that flocked there and bridging the cultural exchange between the East and the West.
This is the third time for the event to be held in China, with this edition themed "When West Meets East".
Upward of 100 Chinese and foreign musicians staged more than 20 performances during the three-day event, covering various music styles such as jazz, rock, electronic music, and pop, creating a cultural feast for the audience.
"It's great to discover a small part of China, because in three days -- I won't see a lot, but I really like to see how Chinese people are enjoying music. Yesterday evening during the concert of 'Earth, Wind and Fire', everyone was dancing. It was really lively , and really nice to enjoy this music together. Through music, we can understand each other. Sometimes it's very difficult to understand each other through the languages, and also sometimes with cultural gap. But through music we gather everyone around the emotions and the pleasure to share this kind of moment. This is why we promote the cultural exchange, in Montreux in Switzerland and also here, of course, in Suzhou. So we are very happy, and we hope to, maybe, welcome emerging musicians from China in Montreux," said Viviane Rychner Raouf, secretary general of Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation.
The concert "Earth, Wind and Fire Experience" mentioned by Raouf was given by Al McKay, one of the world's best Rhythm and Blues groups, and it provided a swing party to spectators.
Swiss music promoter Claude Nobs, who died in 2013, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967 and built it into an international festival and event platform for music lovers.
Since its creation, the festival under its slogan "Where Legends Are Born" has seen many iconic live music performances.
World-renowned music festival held in Suzhou
