The Baoji Bronze Ware Museum in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the first museum in the country to highlight the bronze culture, offers a glimpse into the splendid culture in ancient China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the museum in the city of Baoji on Tuesday afternoon, to learn about the local efforts to enhance the protection and use of cultural relics.
He stressed developing a sense of reverence and affection for Chinese civilization and called for passing on fine traditional Chinese culture from generation to generation.
Home to more than 480,000 cultural relics, the museum is especially famous for the bronzes of the Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) and Zhou (1046-771 B.C.) dynasties which marked the peak of China's bronze culture.
He Zun, a bronze ritual wine vessel made in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) is housed at the museum. It is one of China's 64 national treasures that are never allowed to be exhibited abroad.
It stands 38 centimeters high, and is 28 centimeters in diameter, weighing in at more than 14 kilograms. The bronze ware bears the first written form of the name Zhongguo, or China, which indicates that the concept of "Zhongguo" has emerged more than 3,000 years ago.
Baoji Bronze Ware Museum offers glimpse into splendid ancient Chinese culture
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China reported a steady improvement in business performance in October, with expanding domestic and foreign trade markets and growing confidence in development, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
In the first 10 months, the added value of China's industrial SMEs above a designated size increased by 7.0 percent year on year.
The added value of 39 out of 41 major industries maintained growth, which strongly supported the steady growth of China's industrial economy.
The SMEs production index reached 50.7 percent in October, staying in the expansion range for a sixth consecutive month. A production index above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.
According to the ministry, sales of textiles and clothing, grain, oil and food, furniture, and home appliances in the domestic market rebounded significantly in October.
Thanks to efforts made on expanding overseas market, the export index of SMEs in China reached 51.9 percent in October, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, remaining positive for a seventh consecutive month, said the ministry.
"The package of incremental policies has gradually showed its effect. Multiple indicators on production and sales have improved in October. However, we also see that there are more uncertainties in the external environment, which requires us to further increase our support and service efforts," said Liang Zhifeng, director of the SME bureau at the MIIT.
The ministry said that China will continue to improve the public service system for SMEs, and continue services like financing promotion and digital transformation, in a bid to effectively help enterprises reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency.
SMEs in China report steady improvement in business performance in October
