Silk Road Women's Innovation Design Competition awards winners

The eighth Silk Road Women's Innovative Design Competition held its award ceremony on Monday in northwest China's Xi'an, honoring exceptional Silk Road-themed works by talented female designers.

The competition has drawn 1,976 designers from countries including China, Australia, Russia, and France, receiving a total of 839 creative design works. The awards include first, second, and third prizes, along with excellent organization awards, across four categories, including handicrafts of intangible cultural heritage, cultural creativity, green life, and industrial products.

The competition showcases the creativity of female designers from Silk Road countries and around the world, while boosting the design industry and enhancing cultural exchanges between China and other nations.

The current economic performance indicates that China's GDP is expected to grow by around five percent this year, reinforcing its role as a key engine of global economic growth, said an official of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.

The comments came after the annual, tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference, which was held in Beijing from Dec 11 to 12, where the key economic tasks for 2025 were laid out.

The new quality productive forces have developed steadily, with significant advancements in scientific and technological innovation, particularly in areas such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology. The intelligent and digital transformation of traditional industries has progressed continuously, while the pace of green and low-carbon transformation has notably accelerated, the official said.

Reform and opening-up efforts have continued to deepen, with major initiatives such as raising the retirement age and establishing a unified national market advancing at an accelerated pace. The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative has been steadily promoted, yielding positive outcomes in terms of high-level opening-up.

Risks in key areas have been mitigated in an orderly and effective manner. A series of measures have been implemented to stabilize the real estate market, resulting in consecutive year-on-year and month-on-month increases in commercial housing sales in October and November. Efforts to address local government debt have been proactive, while risks in small and medium-sized local financial institutions have been steadily alleviated through reforms. The country has made solid efforts to ensure people's wellbeing, with stable employment and the sustained consolidation of poverty alleviation achievements.