Buddha's tooth relic from China to be enshrined in Bangkok to mark Thai King's birthday, anniversary of diplomatic ties

Buddha's tooth relic from Beijing's Lingguang Temple will be enshrined in Bangkok, Thailand for 73 days to mark the 72nd birthday of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. "At the invitation of the Thai government and in celebration of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's 72nd birthday as well as the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand in 2025, China has agreed to arrange for the Buddha's tooth relic from Beijing's Lingguang Temple to be enshrined in Bangkok from December 2024 to February 2025 for a period of 73 days," said Lin Jian, the spokesman, at a press conference in Beijing.

"Since the founding of the People's Republic of China [in 1949], the Buddha's tooth relic from the Lingguang Temple has been taken abroad for enshrinement six times, warmly welcomed by Buddhist followers in each host country. It is believed that this enshrinement of the Buddha's tooth relic in Thailand will further enhance exchanges between the Buddhist communities of both countries, enrich the connotation of profound culture of China-Thailand community with a shared future and make the belief more popular that China and Thailand are as close as one family," he said.

Buddha's tooth relic from China to be enshrined in Bangkok to mark Thai King's birthday, anniversary of diplomatic ties

Yantai Port in eastern China's Shandong Province has witnessed a small peak in the shipment of commercial vehicles in the start of the new year.

Since Jan 1, the automobile ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off) terminal of the port has received at least four ro-ro ships and dispatched over 10,000 commercial vehicles.

"For the current large volume of commercial vehicle loading and unloading operations, we improved the efficiency of vehicle passage based on factors like the number of vessels and berthing time. With the joint efforts of all sides, a new high of 320 vehicles per hour in average operational efficiency has been established," said Gu Feng, deputy director of the production dispatching center at Yantai Port Ro-Ro Logistics Co. Ltd.

In 2024, the shipment volume of commercial vehicles from Yantai Port reached 737,000 units, among which the volume of international transshipment exceeded 330,000 units, up 22 percent year on year, statistics showed.

As a logistics base and a logistics hub for commercial vehicles in Shandong and North China, Yantai Port has already developed a number of ro-ro shipping routes that cover over 30 countries and regions in Europe, America, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

East China port sees swelling auto exports in new year