The 35th Shanghai Tourism Festival opened on Saturday with a grand float parade, promising an unforgettable journey for visitors.
A raft of 25 elaborately designed floats took part in the parade, offering a visual feast to show famous tourist destinations, themed parks, and different regions of Shanghai.
With the first parade at the bustling Nanjing Road, floats will unfold in iconic landmarks, commercial centers, and famous scenic spots across the city until the festival's conclusion on Oct. 6.
Amid the parade's splendor, 25 teams from Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania attracted onlookers with a rich tapestry of customs and traditions, providing visitors with a captivating glimpse into global cultures.
During the festival, Shanghai plans to offer 200 themed activities and products, catering to a wide range of interests and preferences.
From Sept 19 to 25, visitors will be offered discounted entrance tickets to 62 Shanghai attractions, including iconic sites like the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Wild Animal Park. This long-standing tradition, which started in 2011, has been warmly received by residents and tourists alike.
In addition, the tourism festival this year also promises a jam-packed schedule of cultural, sporting, and commercial events, including the highly anticipated first Shanghai International Light Festival.
The fusion of cutting-edge light artistry with Shanghai's vibrant backdrop promises excitement and anticipation for visitors.
Shanghai Tourism Festival opens, promising diverse culture experience for visitors
China in 2024 saw a faster transformation and upgrading of investment in manufacturing industry, a strong growth of investment in high-tech industries, and a rebound of investment in infrastructure construction, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.
The investment in manufacturing industry grew by 9.2 percent compared to the previous year, or six percentage points higher than the growth rate of overall investment. In particular, investment in technological upgrades of manufacturing industry increased by eight percent, or 4.8 percentage points higher than overall investment growth.
Private investment in manufacturing grew by 10.8 percent, driving up overall private investment by 5.3 percentage points.
The structure of investment continued to optimize. Investment in high-tech industries rose eight percent compared to the previous year, which was 4.8 percentage points higher than the growth rate of overall investment. In particular, investment in high-tech manufacturing grew by seven percent, and that in high-tech service industry grew by 10.2 percent. Investments related to high-tech industries, such as aerospace equipment manufacturing and professional technical services, increased by more than 30 percent.
In 2025, China plans to moderately increase central government budgetary investments, issue ultra-long-term special treasury bonds and local government special bonds, and enhance efforts to support projects for implementing major national strategies and building security capacity in key areas, as well as implementation of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs, with the aim of stimulating private investment activity through various measures, effectively leveraging government investment to drive social investment, improving investment efficiency, and promoting steady growth in investments.
Transformation, upgrading of China's manufacturing investment accelerates in 2024