Cultural, tourism events across China spark consumption growth

Local authorities across China are using their unique resources to continuously create new cultural and tourism experiences, attracting visitors for sightseeing and recreation.

The tourism department in north China's Hebei Province started a Hong Kong-Hebei cultural tourism week, launching a series of events in Hong Kong, including artistic performances and demonstrations of intangible cultural heritage.

The activities are aimed to provide the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) with a deeper understanding of the charm of Hebei's culture and tourism.

"Today, I am very excited to be in Hong Kong. I brought these exhibits to allow residents of Hong Kong to experience traditional culture, which makes me feel very proud," said Ma Fuliang, a filigree inlay artist, also a national intangible cultural heritage (ICH) bearer.

"I have heard that the ancient town of Zhengding is very beautiful. I would like to go and see it," said a Hong Kong resident.

Leveraging its ice and snow resources, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has combined sports events with ice and snow tourist attractions and hosted an ice marathon on Wednesday, the first day of 2025, attracting over 2,000 marathon enthusiasts from across the country.

At the same time, a self-driving event was launched on Saturday in Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia in north China, bringing together thousands of vehicles from across the nation.

During the opening ceremony, parade formations and artistic performances were presented to offer a visual feast for the spectators.

"This is our second year coming here, and we are participating in the second race. It has been very enjoyable," said Guo Junke, a participant from Beijing.

Up to date, Xilingol League has received over one million visitors from across the country this winter.

Cultural, tourism events across China spark consumption growth

The delegation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinse People's Armed Police Force to the third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, held group meetings to review the government work report on Wednesday afternoon in Beijing.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered the government work report on behalf of the State Council at the opening meeting of the third session of the 14th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday morning.

Zhang Youxia, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), said that the extraordinary achievements made by the Party, the country and the military over the past year have proved that no difficulties or obstacles can stop China from advancing the historical process of national rejuvenation.

He stressed that the entire military forces must focus on achieving the centenary goal of the PLA, comprehensively enhance the military's capability to fight and win, and accelerate the advancement of the modernization of national defense and armed forces.

He Weidong, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the CMC, said that under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China has made new solid strides forward in advancing Chinese modernization, urging the whole military to strengthen military training and combat readiness, promote the implementation of plans, unswervingly enforce discipline while combating corruption to achieve the centenary goal of the PLA.

Military delegation to NPC annual session reviews gov't work report