China saw over 700 million packages collected by postal and express delivery enterprises on Monday, marking a historic high for the country's annual "Double 11" shopping spree, data from the State Post Bureau has shown.
Landing on Nov 11 each year, the "Double 11" annual online shopping festival has become one of the world's largest e-commerce events since it was first launched 15 years ago.
Figures released on Tuesday showed a total of 701 million packages were collected by delivery services across China on Monday, up 151 percent compared to the usual daily volume and marking a year-on-year increase of 9.7 percent. Since entering the peak season ahead of the online shopping rush, the scale of the express delivery market has continued to expand, with the average daily business volume exceeding 580 million packages since October 21.
Since then, a total of 12.783 billion express packages have been processed nationwide, with the average daily processing volume being 125 percent of the daily business volume.
Among them, the express delivery business volume reached 729 million packages on October 22, setting a new single-day record. The continued expansion of the express delivery market reflects the steady demand among online consumers.
The peak season, which began in the weeks leading up to the Double 11 festival, is likely to last all the way through until late January ahead of the Chinese New Year.
Postal and express delivery enterprises have assigned extra staff, rearranged working hours, and adopted unmanned delivery devices during the busy period to ensure the swift and safe delivery of all packages.
In the first years after its creation in 2009, the "Double 11" typically saw frenzied spree of online consumption on Nov 11 each year. Over time, the festival has extended, evolving from a one-day shopping extravaganza into a month-long event.
China's express delivery volume reaches record high during "Double 11" shopping spree
A road which is being constructed by a Chinese contractor in the mountains of Peru is expected to promote economic development in Huanuco province, which is located about 350 kilometers away from the Peruvian capital Lima.
Huanuco is surrounded by the towering Andes mountain range, with altitudes averaging over 4,000 meters, and its poor road infrastructure has posed significant challenges to travelers and to farmers when they want to ship their potatoes, corn and other produce to customers in other locations.
To mitigate these challenges, construction work began in 2019 on the Andes National Road project, also known as the Carretera Huanuco-La Union-Huallanca road project.
Located in the central and western regions of Peru, the 236.63-kilometer road is the country's largest infrastructure project under construction, and is expected to take 11-12 years to complete.
It is estimated to halve travel time for about 270,000 people in 243 towns along the road.
"I am a farmer. I have grown potatoes all my life. We tried to sell Huanuco products to Lima. Because there were only paths, it was difficult to get there. People had to travel for hours. But now, it has shortened the time," said Adalberto Vela, a potato farmer in Huanuco.
"In fact, it will lower the cost of products and it will be easier to transport the products to the capital," said Gonzalo Prado, a truck driver.
"From the point of view of transport in Peru, it was necessary, because it is part of the national highway system. This makes it easier and better for producers in the mountainous areas to profit more from their products," said Luis Cordoba, the director of the engineering department at the national highways bureau under the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
While trying to maximize the economic advantages of the new road, China Railway 20th Bureau Group Corporation Limited (CR20G), which is responsible for building the Andes National Road project, also works hard to protect the local environment.
This part of the Andes features a complex and diverse climate and a fragile ecological environment characterized by native forests along the route of the road.
To balance the requirements of heavy infrastructure work and a delicate environment, CR20G workers plant trees while building the road. The work team also includes experts specializing in environment, forest, safety, and community development. Nurseries have been established at different altitudes for different plants, and specialists teach forest protection knowledge to tens of thousands of residents along the road, and train forestry technicians.
"We are about to plant 40,000 trees. They are purely native species," said Luis Avila, a forest engineer.
"I look forward to the completion of the Andes national highway. Our construction team will deliver to the Peruvian people not only a high-quality expressway, but also a road surrounded by lush landscape, which is the best proof of Chinese companies' practice of biodiversity conservation. In my opinion, this road will be a road to poverty alleviation, a road that combines development and ecology, and a road of friendship between China and Peru," said Chen Jingfang, the executive manager of CR20G's Peru Branch.
Chinese-built road to promote economic, environmental development in Peru
