CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

25/10/2019

Chinese top legislator meets Brazilian president

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese top legislator Li Zhanshu on Friday met with Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro in Beijing.

Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said both China and Brazil are major developing countries and emerging markets with important influence, and relations between the two countries, featured with more strategic and comprehensive significance, have far transcended the bilateral scope.

Given the complex international situation, strengthening all-round cooperation between the two countries will be conducive to promoting the construction of a new type of international relations and building of a community with a shared future for humanity, Li said.

Both sides should continue their mutual support of issues regarding each other’s core interests and major concerns to push their comprehensive strategic partnership to constantly reach new heights, he suggested.

“The National People’s Congress of China stands ready to further enhance exchange and cooperation with the National Congress of Brazil to provide legal guarantee and support for smooth pragmatic cooperation between China and Brazil,” Li said.

China is a great country, said Bolsonaro, who noted Brazil’s new government attaches great importance to relations with China and considers China as Brazil’s important partner. He said his government is ready to enhance cooperation with China, deepen friendship between the two countries and advance bilateral ties to a new high.

Source: Xinhua

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25/10/2019

Chinese vice president visits Japan to promote ties

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan (L) attends a banquet held by Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 22, 2019. Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Friday rounded off a fruitful friendly visit to Japan. During the five-day visit as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Wang attended the enthronement ceremony of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. (Xinhua)

SAPPORO, Japan, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Friday rounded off a fruitful friendly visit to Japan, with the two neighbors pledging continued efforts to foster a relationship that fits the needs of the new era.

During the five-day visit as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Wang attended the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito, and met separately with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso.

On Tuesday, when Emperor Naruhito officially proclaimed his enthronement, Wang conveyed to him and Empress Masako the sincere congratulations of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, and asked the emperor and empress to pass on Xi and Peng’s cordial greetings to Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko.

Emperor Naruhito, for his part, asked Wang to communicate to the Chinese president and his wife the genuine gratitude and best wishes of the imperial couple as well as of the emperor emeritus and empress emerita.

In his meeting with Abe, Wang conveyed to him the cordial greetings of Xi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and expressed sympathies over the serious casualties and losses caused by Typhoon Hagibis, an unusually monstrous tropical cyclone that recently wreaked havoc in Japan.

The vice president recalled that Xi and Abe met in the Japanese city of Osaka in June and reached a series of important consensus on pushing for a China-Japan relationship that fits the needs of the new era, creating new opportunities for the development of bilateral ties.

The two sides, he added, should abide by the principles set forth in the four political documents between China and Japan, properly address such issues as history and Taiwan, and ensure that their relations will move forward along the right track of peace, friendship and cooperation.

China stands ready to work with Japan to continuously cement political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, expand people-to-people exchanges and build a constructive security relationship, said Wang.

He also called on the two countries to join hands to act as defenders of multilateralism, promoters of open cooperation, and practitioners of cross-civilization dialogue, and make positive contributions to advancing global and regional peace, stability and development.

Noting that Xi has accepted in principle Abe’s invitation for a state visit to Japan next spring, Wang said he hopes that the two sides will maintain close contact and coordination, so as to create a favorable environment and a conducive atmosphere and ensure that the visit will materialize smoothly and achieve complete success.

The Japanese prime minister once again extended congratulations on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and thanked Xi for sending Wang as his special envoy to attend Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony and pay a friendly visit to Japan.

Japan and China have a long history of exchanges and boast a solid traditional friendship, Abe said, adding that today the two countries enjoy steadily deepening cooperation on economy and trade, deal with international affairs side by side, and shoulder great responsibility for peace and prosperity in Asia as well as the whole world.

As both countries are entering a new era, and the Osaka meeting has facilitated a full return of Japan-China relations to normal development, the two sides have huge potential in future cooperation, added the Japanese prime minister.

The Japanese side, he said, earnestly looks forward to Xi’s state visit to Japan in the coming spring, and is willing to properly handle the Taiwan question and other sensitive issues.

He added that his country stands ready to make concerted efforts with China to enhance top-level planning for bilateral relations, maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, and build a Japan-China relationship that is beautiful, harmonious, future-oriented and vigorous.

In his meeting with Aso, Wang said China and Japan, as important countries in Asia and major economies in the world, should more consciously perceive and handle their relationship against the backdrop of the world and the times, and manage and plan it from long-term, strategic perspectives.

In the new era, the two countries have broader common interests and more common concerns, and the strategic value of their relationship is growing ever more prominent, noted the Chinese vice president.

China, he said, stands ready to work with Japan to effectively seize the opportunities and, with their eyes set on the future and the big picture, comprehensively strengthen coordination and communication in various areas including financial cooperation, so as to lift bilateral ties to a higher level.

Aso said that boosting candid, open and constructive exchanges between the two countries is conducive to bilateral relations, and that Japan supports open market and free trade, and is willing to step up communication and cooperation with China in the financial realm.

The Japanese side, added the deputy prime minister, is actively making preparations in order to foster a conducive atmosphere for Xi’s planned visit next year.

Also during his stay in Japan, Wang held separate meetings with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Governor Naomichi Suzuki of the Hokkaido prefecture.

In addition, he met with Pakistani President Arif Alvi in Tokyo.

Source: Xinhua

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25/10/2019

Xi stresses role of traditional Chinese medicine for “Healthy China”

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has underlined the important role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in building “Healthy China.”

The country should carry on fine elements in TCM and innovate them, Xi said in a recent instruction, stressing that traditional medicine is a treasure of Chinese civilization embodying the wisdom of the nation and its people.

Xi’s instruction was delivered at a national conference of TCM held Friday in Beijing.

Xi said that equal importance should be placed on traditional Chinese and Western medicines and efforts be made to enable them to supplement each other and prosper together.

He also underlined the efforts to promote TCM internationally and fully develop its unique strength in preventing and treating diseases.

In an instruction also delivered at the conference, Premier Li Keqiang called TCM a great creation of the Chinese nation.

Li stressed promoting talent training, scientific and technological innovation, and research and development of medicines.

He required efforts to promote preservation, innovation and high-quality development of TCM so that it will contribute to the improvement of people’s health and wellbeing.

Addressing the event, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan pledged to thoroughly implement the leaders’ instructions.

People who made outstanding contribution to TCM development were awarded at the conference.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in "Healthy China", Building, Chinese civilization, Chinese President Xi Jinping, embodying, health, important role, medicines, nation, People, Premier Li Keqiang, promoting, research and development (R&D), scientific and technological innovation, talent training, TCM, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Uncategorized, underlined, vice premier, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, wellbeing, Western medicines, wisdom | Leave a Comment »

25/10/2019

Chinese survey ship involved in South China Sea stand-off with Vietnam back home, tracker says

Haiyang Dizhi 8 in waters close to Macau as of 4pm Friday, MarineTraffic reports
Vessel’s work in disputed waters ‘now complete’, foreign ministry says

The Haiyang Dizhi 8 was close to Macau as of Friday afternoon, according to the MarineTraffic maritime information service. Photo: Weibo

The Chinese survey ship that has been at the centre of a stand-off with Vietnam in the

South China Sea

was back in waters close to home on Friday afternoon, according to an online platform that provides information about maritime activity.

As of 4pm, the Haiyang Dizhi 8 (Marine Geology 8), which had been operating close to Vanguard Bank – a disputed reef in the Spratly Island chain claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi – was located just off Macau, the MarineTraffic service said.

China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that the vessel had finished the work it had started “in Chinese-controlled waters in early July”.

“According to our understanding the work is now complete,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing, without elaborating.

The Japanese oil rig, Hakuryu 5, is reported to have completed its drilling mission near Vanguard Bank earlier this week. Photo: Japan Drilling Co

While in the Vanguard Reef area, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, escorted by heavily armed coastguard vessels, made multiple passes by an oil block operated by Russian energy company Rosneft.

Observers say the presence of the Chinese vessels in the region is part of Beijing’s efforts to prevent Hanoi from partnering with international energy firms to explore energy reserves in the disputed waterway. The latest activity triggered a months-long stand-off between the two countries.

The departure of the Haiyang Dizhi 8 came amid reports that the Japanese oil rig, Hakuryu 5, owned by Tokyo-based Japan Drilling Company and employed by Rosneft, had earlier this week completed a drilling mission it started in May near Vanguard Bank.

China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe told a regional security conference that the South China Sea was an inalienable part of China’s territory. Photo: AP

Although China and Vietnam have said they are looking for a diplomatic solution to prevent confrontations, neither has shown any signs of backing down and tensions have continued to rise.

On Monday, China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe told military and defence officials attending a regional security conference in Beijing that the South China Sea was an inalienable part of China’s territory.

“We will not allow even an inch of territory that our ancestors have left to us to be taken away,” he said in his opening speech at the Xiangshan Forum.

Also on Monday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told lawmakers at the National Assembly that Hanoi would never give any territorial concessions.

“The situation in the South China Sea has become increasingly complicated,” he said. “Our party and state have consistently stated that what belongs to our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will never give up.”

Last week, Hanoi pulled DreamWorks’ animated film Abominable from theatres over a scene featuring a map that shows Beijing’s self-declared “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea. China uses the U-shaped line to claim sovereignty over more than 80 per cent of the resource-rich waterway, parts of which are also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei.

Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said that the withdrawal of the Haiyang Dizhi might only be “temporary”.

“China has made its point about drilling activities within the nine-dash line and expects Vietnam to suspend further exploration and production activities,” he said. “[But] of course Vietnam won’t.”

China, Malaysia seek to resolve South China Sea disputes with dialogue mechanism

Zhang Mingliang, a specialist in Southeast Asian affairs at Jinan University in the south China city of Guangzhou, said that the Chinese ship’s withdrawal was unlikely to have had anything to do with the comments made by Vietnam.

“I think the main reason is that it had finished its work,” he said. “But the withdrawal could also be seen as an attempt to ease the [China’s] tensions with the US.”

The significance for relations between Beijing and Hanoi was minimal, he said, as the two nations were engaged in one of the world’s most complicated territorial disputes.

“The impact on Sino-Vietnam relations will be limited because there have been too many disputes like this one,” he said.

Source: SCMP

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25/10/2019

Mahjong: Police clamp down on China’s most loved game

An apparent police ban on all mahjong parlours in a Chinese city led to panic among aficionados of China’s national pastime.

Police in Yushan in southeast China first announced the ban at the weekend, saying it was to curb illegal gambling and “purify social conduct”.

This led to shock and outrage with many calling the strategic, tile-based game the “quintessence of Chinese culture”.

Police then clarified that only unlicensed parlours would be shut.

It comes after several other cities also announced parlours encouraging gambling would be shut.

Mahjong is one of the most popular games in China, especially with older people.

While it does not have to be played with money, it is common for players to gamble with small amounts. A typical mahjong game could see players bet anywhere from $1 to $15.

‘People can gamble with anything’

On 20 October, police in Yushan, a small county in China’s southeast Jiangxi province, issued a statement announcing that all mahjong parlours in the county would be “closed” by 22 October.

Authorities said the ban would be enacted in an effort to “push forward the campaign against crimes and gangs… [to] solve the gambling and noise problem [and] purify social conduct”.

Gambling is illegal in China but under Jiangxi province law, those who engage in “win-loss entertainments such as mahjong and poker involving a small amount of money… shall not be punished”.

However, the law adds that people who “[gamble] money of more than 200 yuan ($28; £21)” could be subject to punishment.

Men play mah-jong in a street — Image caption It’s a familiar sight to see retirees gather in parks to play mahjong

It wasn’t long before the backlash kicked in.

Some people pointed out that while China does face a widespread problem of illegal gambling dens, many mahjong parlours are in fact, legally operated with licenses.

Another commenter on social media site Weibo said: “Not all people play mahjong for gambling,” according to state media ECNS.

“My grandparents play mahjong as part of their daily entertainment”.

Others said it was a “lazy” solution by the government in an attempt to curtail illegal gambling.

“Mahjong [itself] is not a problem. People can gamble with anything,” said one comment on Weibo.

But one social media user saw the positive side of the ban, saying: “Finally! I have been woken up numerous times [by] mahjong players.”

Mahjong is known to be quite a noisy game, as the heavy tiles often make clacking sounds as they are shuffled around.

But their joy was short lived. Just one day after they made the announcement, Yushan authorities revised their statement, saying licensed mahjong parlours would not be affected.

They also clarified that the ban was meant to target places that encouraged “illegal gambling”.

Despite this, some licensed parlour owners told local news outlets that they were also not operating amid the clampdown, but it was unclear whether that was voluntary or enforced by officials.

Several other cities in Jiangxi have also banned mahjong in recent days, but had made it clear in their announcements that registered mahjong parlours would not be affected.

What is mahjong?

Mahjong is a game played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols
It developed in the late 19th century, during China’s Qing dynasty, but became popular in the 20th century
It is conceptually similar to the western card game Rummy
Luxury brands have also attempted to capitalise on China’s love for the game. Hermes for example, has a $40,200 mahjong set made in “solid palissander wood” for sale on its website.

The game has also gone on to gain popularity in the West – and has recently made several appearances in mainstream pop culture.

It was featured as part of a pivotal moment in the Hollywood blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians, where two main characters met for a showdown of a game at a mahjong parlour.

Source: The BBC

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24/10/2019

China to tighten up plastic use in schools

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — Chinese authorities demand primary and middle schools to step up education on environment protection and reduce the use of plastic, according to a statement issued Wednesday.

The schools should not force students to use plastic book covers, especially substandard ones, which could damage children’s health, said the statement.

The statement also requires low-carbon consumption in curricular and extracurricular activities and in school management so as to raise the environmental awareness among the students.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in activities, Beijing, book covers, China alert, chinese authorities, curricular, education, environment protection, environmental awareness, extracurricular, low-carbon consumption, plastic, plastic use, primary and middle schools, reduce, school management, schools, step up, students, substandard, tighten up, Uncategorized, use | Leave a Comment »

24/10/2019

Farmers harvest apples in Weihai, E China

CHINA-SHANDONG-WEIHAI-APPLE-HARVEST (CN)

A farmer picks apples at a fruit and vegetables specialized cooperative in Nanhai New Area of Weihai, east China’s Shandong Province, Oct. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

Source: Xinhua

Posted in apples, farmers, Harvest, Nanhai New Area, shandong province, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

24/10/2019

Essex lorry deaths: 39 found dead ‘were Chinese nationals’

The 39 people found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Essex were Chinese nationals, it is understood.

Police are continuing to question lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, who was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Officers in Northern Ireland have raided two houses and the National Crime Agency said it was working to identify “organised crime groups who may have played a part”.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Ambulance staff discovered the bodies of the 38 adults and one teenager in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays just after 01:30 BST on Wednesday.

The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05.

Police said the tractor unit – the front part of the lorry – came from Northern Ireland and picked up the trailer from Purfleet.

Image caption The lorry driver has been named locally as Mo Robinson, from County Armagh

Councillor Paul Berry said the village of Laurelvale in County Armagh, where the Robinson family live, was in “complete shock”.

He said he had been in contact with Mr Robinson’s father, who had learned of his son’s arrest on Wednesday through social media.

“The local community is hoping that he [Mo Robinson] has been caught up innocently in this matter but that’s in the hands of Essex Police, and we will leave it in their professional hands to try to catch the perpetrators of this,” he said.

The Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened a case which would focus on the organisers and others involved in the transport.

A spokesman said the container arrived in Zeebrugge at 14:29 on Tuesday and left the port later that afternoon before arriving in Purfleet in the early hours of Wednesday.

It was not clear when the victims were placed in the container or if this happened in Belgium, he said.

Media caption Essex lorry deaths: CCTV shows arrival at industrial park

St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Grays will be open for people to light candles and say prayers between 12:00 and 14:00.

A vigil is being held at 18:00 outside the Home Office to “call for urgent action to ensure safe passage” for people fleeing war and poverty.

The lorry was moved to a secure site at Tilbury Docks on Wednesday so the bodies could be “recovered while preserving the dignity of the victims”.

Essex Police initially suggested the lorry could be from Bulgaria, but later said officers believed it entered the UK from Belgium.

The force said formal identification of the 39 bodies “could be a lengthy process”.

A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry said the truck was registered in the country under the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen.

He said it was “highly unlikely” the deceased were Bulgarians.

Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking, said while forces had prevented thousands of deaths, “tragically, for 39 people that didn’t work yesterday”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme even if there were routes perceived as easier to get through, organised criminals would still exploit people who could not access those.

“You can’t turn the United Kingdom into a fortress,” added Mr Sawyer, who is the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police.

Media caption I’ve seen people running out of a lorry’

Thurrock’s Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price said there needed to be an international response.

“We have partnerships in place but those efforts need to be rebooted, this is an international criminal world where many gangs are making lots of money and until states act collectively to tackle that it is going to continue,” she said.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said temperatures in refrigerated trailers could be as low as -25C.

He described conditions for anyone inside as “absolutely horrendous”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an “unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking”.

How many migrants have died in transit?

The number of migrants who die in transit has been recorded by the UN since 2014.

Since then, five bodies of suspected migrants had been found in lorries or containers in the UK before this tragedy.

Data was not collected in the same way before the migrant crisis began in 2014, but such deaths are not new.

In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found suffocated to death in a lorry at Dover.

In 2015, the bodies of 71 people were found in an abandoned lorry on an Austrian motorway. Police suspected the vehicle was part of a Bulgarian-Hungarian human trafficking operation.

Source: The BBC

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23/10/2019

Chinese oil giant hands over last set of oil-refining equipment to Kuwaiti contractor

KUWAIT-AL AHMADI GOVERNORATE-REFINERY PROJECT-SINOPEC-HANDOVER

Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2019 shows the construction site of Kuwait New Refinery Project in Al Ahmadi Governorate, Kuwait. The sixth set of oil-refining equipment for the Kuwait New Refinery Project (NRP), constructed by China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), was handed over to its general contractor on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Nie Yunpeng)

KUWAIT CITY, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) — The sixth set of oil-refining equipment for the Kuwait New Refinery Project (NRP), constructed by China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), was handed over to its general contractor on Tuesday.

The successful handover of all the six sets of equipment marked the ending of the project undertaken by Sinopec Fifth Construction Company, NRP’s sub-contractor.

At the handover ceremony, Cheng Yongru, economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kuwait, said that the project is a model for cooperation between China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Kuwait Vision 2035.

He expressed the hope that more Chinese companies would continue strengthening cooperation with the Kuwaiti side for more achievements.

In the past three years, Sinopec Fifth Construction Company has installed on the project a total of 22,400 tons of steel structures, welded 2.4 million-inch pipes, installed 1026 units of equipment, and laid 3,700 km of cables, Wang Zhiwei, the project manager of the company.

Mustafa Abdul-Hamid Al Sane, the Kuwaiti representative on the project and president of Al Manafa Group, hailed the successful handover of the refinery project.

It is a huge achievement, he said, noting that “we are very impressed to see this done in a short time.”

Under the contract, the Chinese company is responsible for installing six sets of oil-refining equipment for the NRP with contract value of 519 million U.S. dollars.

Wang said that the project is currently the largest refinery in the Middle East.

Sourcer: Xinhua

Posted in Al Manafa Group, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), Chinese, contractor, hands over, KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait New Refinery Project (NRP), Kuwait Vision 2035, Kuwaiti, last set, Middle East, oil giant, oil-refining equipment, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

23/10/2019

China Focus: Third-generation hybrid rice achieves high yields in China

(Eyesonsci)CHINA-HUNAN-THIRD-GENERATION-HYBRID RICE (CN)

Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2019 shows Yuan Longping (C), the “father of hybrid rice”, at an appraisal meeting in central China’s Hunan Province. The third-generation hybrid rice developed by Yuan Longping, the “father of hybrid rice,” and his team underwent its first public yield monitoring from Monday to Tuesday and achieved high output. The final yield of the tested variety, G3-1S/P19, came to 1,046.3 kg per mu (about 667 square meters), based on two plots of land in Qingzhu Village under the city of Hengyang in Hunan. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)

CHANGSHA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) — The third-generation hybrid rice developed by Yuan Longping, the “father of hybrid rice,” and his team underwent its first public yield monitoring from Monday to Tuesday and achieved high output.

The final yield of the tested variety, G3-1S/P19, came to 1,046.3 kg per mu (about 667 square meters), based on two plots of land in Qingzhu Village under the city of Hengyang in central China’s Hunan Province.

Experts agreed that the rice has a stout stem, fertilizer tolerance, lodging resistance, large spike and more grains.

“One of the most important characteristics of the third-generation hybrid rice is that it has a shorter growing period,” said Qian Qian, deputy director of the China National Rice Research Institute.

Qian said some previous high-yielding hybrid rice varieties in China took 160 to even 180 days from sowing to harvesting, while the figure was shortened to around 125 days for the new variety.

“A shorter growth period can reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers, thus reducing cost and improving production efficiency,” Qian said.

Unlike the previous two generations that required a large amount of water and fertilizers as well as demanding growing conditions and technological support, the third-generation hybrid rice is easier to be cultivated by ordinary farmers.

The soil, altitude and climate of the test site were not “ideal conditions” carefully selected beforehand but were close to the paddies of ordinary farmers, according to Zhao Bingran with Hunan hybrid rice research center.

The whole process was organized by the Hunan Society of Agronomy under the supervision of experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the China National Rice Research Institute, Hunan’s agriculture and rural affairs department and multiple Chinese universities.

At present, China’s average yield of rice is about 500 kg per mu. Ordinary farmers can produce 600 kg to 700 kg of rice per mu by growing some excellent second-generation hybrid rice varieties, said Li Xinqi, a researcher with Hunan hybrid rice research center.

“However, under the same planting conditions and environment, the yield of the third-generation hybrid rice could reach 800 kg per mu,” Li added.

China now feeds around 20 percent of the world’s population with less than 9 percent of the world’s arable land.

Yuan, who developed the world’s first hybrid rice in the 1970s, has set multiple world records in hybrid rice yields in previous years, making great contributions to the food security of China and the world.

“We hope to promote the planting of 100 million mu of the third-generation hybrid rice in China in the short term and increase grain production by 20 billion kg, and apply the technology into the research of sea rice,” Li said. “In the medium and long term, we hope to increase the planting area of hybrid rice by 70 percent worldwide.”

At present, Yuan’s team has nine third-generation hybrid rice combinations under trial, which are expected to achieve commercial seed production in the following three to four years.

“The third-generation hybrid rice has the comprehensive strength to promote a greener and more sustainable development of China’s rice production with higher quality and yield,” Yuan said.

Source: Xinhua

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