Thousands of Shanghai mountaineers and climbers on Wednesday, or the first day of 2025, chose to begin their new year by ascending a height, hoping that the tradition will bless them with good luck in the new year.
In China, climbing to pray for blessings is a time-honored custom, symbolizing good health and longevity.
Around about 9:00, over 1,000 contestants started their tower-climbing competition from the square at the foot of Shanghai's landmark Oriental Pearl Tower.
Their destinations were the two glass sightseeing corridors of the TV tower, respectively at heights of about 90 and 260 meters.
The competition has a history of 30 years and has been widely considered as an auspicious event that will help draw good luck.
"Today is the first day of the new year and I want to send my championship to my daughter who was born on Jan 1 as a birthday gift. For this reason, I ran very enthusiastically today," said Xu Cailong, men's champion of the tower-climbing race.
"Last year, I was the No. 2 and I swore to win the champion this year. I must do better than last year," said Lu Yongyu, woman's champion.
Among the various sports and fitness activities to mark 2025, mountain climbing is many people's favorite and the Shuangzi Mountains on Wednesday welcomed over 2,000 health walkers.
As walkers raced to the hilltop they were expecting that reaching a greater height on the first day of the new year will mean a good beginning of 2025.
"Mountain climbing, I think, is linked to the Chinese idiom 'rising step by step'," said a climber.
Shanghai residents ascend height to embrace New Year
The renewal of the currency swap agreement between China and Nigeria will enhance bilateral trade and help strengthen Nigeria's local economy, said a Nigerian economist.
At the end of December, China's central bank said that it had renewed a bilateral currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The total value of the agreement is 15 billion yuan (about 2.09 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.28 trillion Nigerian naira, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
The agreement is valid for three years and can be renewed upon mutual consent, according to the statement.
The renewed currency swap agreement allows direct naira-to-yuan payments, cutting costs and easing the financial burden for importers like Martines Tochi.
For eight years, Tochi has relied on China for the supply of electrical cables, lighting equipment, and conductors.
Like many Nigerian traders, he once faced challenges in sourcing foreign exchange to pay suppliers
"Sincerely, we've been sourcing dollars from the black market. And we have been facing serious difficulties in sourcing them. Now, you're not going to source here in Nigeria, so it's a good development, a very good development to us," said Tochi.
Economists see this renewed agreement as a pathway to further strengthen the naira and expand bilateral trade.
"That's a very good opportunity for Nigeria to increase its trade volume with China, and it's one of the things that can help also, strengthen the local economy going by the kind of materials or goods that Nigeria imports from China -- electronics, machineries, equipment and what a view, which are essential for boosting industry, for enhancing the growth of our manufacturing sector and creating jobs in Nigeria at large," said Isaac Botti, an economist.
Nigeria is China's third largest trading partner in Africa, with bilateral trade amounting to 22.56 billion US dollars in 2023.
Renewal of currency swap deal boosts trade between China, Nigeria: economist
