As the new snow season starts in early winter in northeast China's Jilin Province, enthusiastic skiers and snowboarders can't wait to hit the trails, among whom is a six-year-old girl named Guo Ziyi.
Born and living in Shanghai, Guo hardly had a chance to experience ice-snow sports, but things took a surprising yet pleasant turn after the girl went back two years ago to the hometown of her father in northeast China's Jilin Province, a popular destination for such sports known for its long snow season.
While there, the child demonstrated her agile moves on the ski field and quickly fell in love with skiing.
"When skiing, I feel like wearing a pair of wings to fly freely over the snow," she said.
"She was thrilled when skiing for the first time. With a good sense for skiing, she made a move at that time that is difficult for other children to do. It made her feel a great sense of accomplishment, and since then she has fallen in love with skiing," said Li Yun, Guo's mother.
In order to support the kid, Guo's family decided to stay in Jilin during this snow season.
"I would practice the moves I'm familiar with at first and would then move on to harder moves," Guo said before practicing.
"Generally speaking, it is difficult for children to keep practicing skiing due to the cold weather and hard work in winter, which are highly challenging to children. However, she finds so much fun doing this that she doesn't consider such things difficult," Li said.
"When I fall but it doesn't hurt, I would get up immediately. If it hurts, I would cry just a bit before pulling myself up. If it really hurts, my dad would hold me up and slide down together with me," Guo said.
The girl spent up to 180 days a year skiing, clocking in 7,200 kilometers in total, which is equivalent to two round-trip trips from Shanghai to Jilin.
Last year, she won the championship of a snowboard competition in Changchun City, capital of the province.
"My first goal is to ski more comfortably and have more fun, and the second goal is to compete in more games, ski faster and win more medals," said the girl.
As the girl sets her sights on more glory in skiing, all her father wants is enduring happiness she gets playing the sport.
"As long as she keeps enjoying it going forward. That'd be enough for me," Guo's father said.
Six-year-old girl shows genius in skiing
Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa on Thursday arrived in Nanjing of east China's Jiangsu Province, the second stop of her visit to China, with the goal of stepping up bilateral cooperation in agriculture and fisheries.
Mata'afa, who arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday before heading to Jiangsu's Taizhou City to begin a nine-day official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, is being accompanied by a delegation comprising of Samoa's finance minister and other foreign and trade officials.
The delegation toured an agricultural research center in Jiangsu, where the China-Pacific Island Countries Agricultural Cooperation Demonstration Center was unveiled last year.
The research center was jointly established back in May 2020 by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS).
Since the 1980s, JAAS has carried out cooperation projects with Samoa, Vanuatu, and other Pacific Island countries on vegetable cultivation and rice breeding projects, achieving remarkable results.
Samoa's economy heavily relies on agriculture and fisheries, and since the establishment of the cooperation center, agricultural collaboration with China has grown significantly.
During Thursday's tour, the Samoan delegation viewed a display showcasing the partnership's key accomplishments, such as the establishment of joint laboratories and technical support programs, aimed at boosting local farmers' productivity. The delegation was then presented with a variety of crops developed by the research center.
Discussions touched on plans to expand collaboration to foster the island country's economic development.
"Agriculture is one of our priority sectors back home for development. And we see similarities in the provinces that we have visited in China. And we are learning a lot from what we have seen, and also sharing the experiences with the officials here and the experts here and taking it back with us to help us develop our agricultural skills," said Lautimuia Uelese Vaai, Samoan Minister of Finance.
Over the past year, the institution has sent multiple delegations to Pacific Island nations, including Samoa, to advance agricultural technology cooperation projects.
"In Samoa, we conducted a survey research on their vegetable cultivation and livestock farming. During our discussion with the prime minister just now, she showed great interest in these areas, which will also be a key focus for our next phase of cooperation," said Yi Zhongyi, president of the academy.
Sampling the fresh produce, delegation members not only experienced the flavors of innovation but also gained fresh inspiration.
"In Samoa, we have lots of tomatoes but not this species, so maybe we should take some [back]," said Luamanuvae Albert Mariner, Samoa's ambassador to China.
"We are not used to this scale of greenhouses, so it's actually quite eye-opening," said Henry Tunupopo, assistant chief executive officer of the Samoan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Samoan PM visits Nanjing to step up agriculture, fisheries industry cooperation
