Chinese envoy urges external armed forces to withdraw from Libya

A Chinese envoy reiterated the necessity on Wednesday for external armed forces and mercenaries to withdraw from Libya as soon as possible.

"The peaceful reconstruction of Libya is now at a critical stage, and to promote political transition is an important cornerstone to ensure its long-term peace and stability. China calls on all parties to continue to adhere to the general direction of a political settlement, strengthen dialog and consultation, and garner more consensus for the early resumption of political negotiations and establishing unified state institutions," said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, at the Security Council briefing on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Dai called on the international community to continue to support efforts to seek African solutions to African problems and promote a political settlement to the Libyan issue. "We call for the respect for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Libya, and reiterate our urge that external armed forces and mercenaries be withdrawn from Libya as soon as possible in a smooth and orderly manner," he said.

He also called for easing antagonism and confrontation, and maintaining security and stability; and focusing on humanitarian challenges and improving people's livelihood in Libya.

Noting that Libya has experienced a long period of civil war and conflict with a seriously divided security structure, and some of the recent unilateral actions have worsened the fragile security situation, the ambassador called on all Libyan parties to put the interest of the country and the people first, remain rational and restraint, continue to strictly comply with the ceasefire agreement, implement the consensus of the 5+5 joint military commission, and work together to safeguard the hard-won detente.

Dai urged the international community to continue to provide support to Libya in strengthening counter-terrorism efforts and maintaining border security, and to scale up humanitarian assistance and provide more constructive support for its development and rebuilding.

He said China supports Libya to utilize its oil resources well and use oil revenues to improve people's well-beings, and called on the Security Council to pay effective attention to the concerns of the Libyan authorities regarding frozen assets abroad and work out a solution as soon as possible to protect Libyan people from losing their wealth.

China supports UNSMIL to play its due role in mediating the Libyan issue and make greater effort to advance political transition and achieve lasting peace in Libya, Dai said.

Chinese envoy urges external armed forces to withdraw from Libya

An old teahouse with a history of more than 100 years in Pengzhen Town of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan in the southwest, once was almost abandoned but now attracts people with its nostalgic slow lifestyle that brews people away from the bustling modernity.

Known as Pengzhen Old Teahouse, the property is also named Guanyinge, or Guanyin Attic, from a story that a fire devastating the town over a century ago spared this building only because of the blessing of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin.

Li Qiang, the owner of the century-old teahouse, has been working at the teahouse for over two decades. He stressed that a traditional structure can't be treated as a shrine for people to worship or a specimen to be observed.

Many local senior citizens enjoy spending their time at the teahouse.

"In fact, I think the relationship between the guests and me is like the relationship between the elders and the juniors. Especially in the mornings, many are retirees, ranging from 60 to 90 years old. But for me, I've been working here for over 20 years. In other words, when I was young, they were middle-aged. I saw them growing older, and they witnessed us becoming middle-aged," Li said. Guanyinge has been standing here for 108 years, watching people coming and going. It was listed as a protected historical building in 2016.

Professor Zhang Yu from the Architecture and Design Institute of the Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu is in charge of protecting this legendary teahouse.

"For a long period of time in retrospect, like many other ancient towns, this old town inevitably fell into decline, during which there was only one teahouse in the town still in business. This was the only one left at that time. After all those years, people have finally realized the value of this authentic lifestyle," said Zhang.

A teahouse is the best place to depict the sense of harmony. All visitors are equal, and there's no distinction between tea lovers. But if in those well-decorated teahouses with relatively modern facilities, customers can hardly feel an inner peace, and also have a sense of distance from each other, said Li.

This could explain why the century-old teahouse remains attractive, he said.

Century-old teahouse in Chengdu presents slow life style