Author: Online Editor

By Li Xinping, People’s Daily
In 1975, deep in the Qinling Mountains, China’s first fully electrified railway, the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, marked the beginning of a transformative journey toward railway modernization.
Half a century later, on the Chengdu Plain, engineers are developing a cutting-edge 400 km/h traction power supply system for the CR450 bullet train, which is expected to establish a new global benchmark in high-speed rail operations.
From humble beginnings to a globally leading network, electrification has played a pivotal role in China’s railway evolution, from conventional lines to high-speed rail, and from operations to digital systems. By the end of 2024, China’s operational railway network had reached 162,000 kilometers, with more than 120,000 kilometers, or 75.8 percent electrified.
Electrified railways rely on electric traction power, with high-speed rail representing their most advanced form. The core components – power supply systems, traction, communications, and signaling – form the technical backbone of the electrified network.
Compared to diesel-powered lines, electrified railways offer superior performance. In freight transport, China’s heavy-haul electrified railways can handle 5,000 tons with a single locomotive, while the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway has normalized operations with trains weighing up to 20,000 tons. In passenger services, a 16-car high-speed train carries approximately 900 tons.
Speed is another transformative aspect. When the Baoji-Chengdu line was non-electrified, trains ran at only 20 to 25 km/h. Today, Fuxing CR400 bullet trains can reach a commercial speed of 350 km/h. Electrification also delivers significant environmental benefits: electric trains emit no exhaust, generate lower noise, and contribute substantially less air pollution than diesel alternatives.
China now boasts the world’s largest electrified railway network, operating across diverse and challenging environments – from frigid winters to scorching summers, and from humid lowlands to high-altitude plateaus. These experiences have positioned China as a global leader in railway electrification and high-speed rail technology.
While some might reduce electrification to “poles and wires,” the underlying engineering is highly complex. Take overhead contact wires, often called the “lifeline” of high-speed trains. These wires must withstand extreme demands in terms of strength, conductivity, heat resistance, and durability.
“In the early days, we used copper-magnesium and copper-tin wires,” explained Zhang Jian, chief engineer at China Railway Self-creation Electric Co., Ltd. “But they couldn’t fully support the requirements of 350 km/h or higher speeds, prompting urgent innovation.”
After three years of research and development, Chinese engineers became the first in the world to industrialize high-strength, high-conductivity copper-chromium-zirconium alloy wires. These new wires improve conductivity by 20 percent and support safe, stable, and cost-effective operations at 400 km/h, filling a crucial gap in global rail technology.
As the world’s busiest high-speed rail network, China faces ongoing challenges such as overhead line wear. Traditionally, defect detection involved capturing millions of inspection images and manual review by experienced engineers.
“The workload was immense,” said Zhang Zhongyi, general manager of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway maintenance company. “Our team had to manually analyze over 14 million images annually.”
To address this, China developed a visual intelligence system for high-speed railways in 2019, using AI to pre-screen and detect over 1,300 types of potential defects before human verification. The system has significantly enhanced detection accuracy and efficiency.
Leveraging technologies such as big data, 5G, cloud computing, drones, image recognition, and intelligent equipment, China has built a smart maintenance platform that has cut traction power maintenance costs by 20 percent, extended overhaul intervals by 20 percent, and increased the service life of components by 20 percent.
From the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, the highest electrified railway in the world, to the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway, which has transported over 9 billion tons of freight, and to the newly opened Chongqing East-Qianjiang section of the Chongqing-Xiamen high-speed railway with a designed speed of 350 km/h, China’s electrification journey exemplifies the nation’s transition from “made in China” to “smartly manufactured in China.” It continues to drive economic growth, social development, and the broader process of Chinese modernization.

By Chang Qin, People’s Daily
Many Chinese consumers have observed a significant decline in the prices of once-premium fruits like blueberries and Shine Muscat grapes. This trend is primarily driven by market dynamics and expanded production capabilities.
“Price fluctuations reflect fundamental supply-demand dynamics. Increased availability naturally leads to price adjustments,” said Wang Wenhui, director of the fruit storage and processing research center at the Research Institute of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Fruits like cherries and blueberries have seen substantial import growth, creating competitive pricing pressure. Meanwhile, domestic production of blueberries and Shine Muscat grapes has also expanded rapidly, pushing their prices onto a downward track.
Data show that over the past decade, China’s fruit planting area and output have continued to rise. By 2023, fruit output reached 327 million tons, with per capita availability exceeding 232 kilograms, well above the global average. This increase has been supported not only by steady supplies of seasonal fruits but also by the rapid rise of off-season produce cultivated in controlled environments.
The Shine Muscat grape is a vivid example. Introduced in China in 2011 as a premium variety, it now covers nearly 2 million mu (133,000 hectares) nationwide, with output exceeding 3 million tons. Its price has fallen dramatically from an initial farm-gate price of 150 yuan ($21.08) per kilogram and retail price of 300 yuan per kilogram, down to around 10 yuan today.
Wang explained that the rapid expansion of planting, soaring yields, and standardization across the industrial chain have transformed Shine Muscat grape from a luxury fruit into an everyday option for consumers.
At the same time, fruit imports are also booming. Over the past decade, China’s fruit imports have grown rapidly, with total imports in 2024 up 77.1 percent compared with those in 2015. Sources and varieties have diversified, with popular fruits such as cherries and blueberries seeing explosive growth in import volumes.
New varieties are gaining market access, while favorable policies such as lower tariffs and faster customs clearance are being introduced. Trade fairs including the Canton Fair, the China International Import Expo, and the China International Consumer Products Expo are creating smoother channels for international suppliers. Meanwhile, infrastructure projects such as the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the China-Laos Railway, along with expanded cold-chain logistics, storage facilities, and shipping routes, are making fruit trade between China and the world more efficient and convenient.
In addition to supply-side changes, demand-side adjustments are also influencing the prices of high-end fruits. Wang noted that the imported fruit market in China is becoming more segmented, with different grades of products now offered to cater to different consumer groups. This provides consumers with more diverse options and better value for money.
China’s geographic diversity also means that different regions produce distinct high-quality specialty fruits, which often come at more competitive prices. With the growth of e-commerce and new retail models, consumers now enjoy a wider range of purchasing options, which makes it easier to find fruit that suits their preferences.
Looking ahead, as global fruit production continues to expand, trade becomes increasingly convenient, and China’s domestic fruit industry continues to upgrade, Chinese consumers will have access to a wider variety of fruits at more reasonable prices.
“With abundant supply in the Chinese market and increasingly smooth distribution channels, fruit prices are expected to remain stable. The ‘fruit basket’ will keep expanding, giving consumers more variety and making fresh fruits increasingly accessible,” Wang said.

By Liu Xiaoyu, Luo Shanshan, Zhong Ziwei, People’s Daily
China serves as both a major destination for foreign investment and a leading source of outbound investment.
According to a statistical bulletin released recently, China’s outward foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2024 reached $192.2 billion, accounting for 11.9 percent of the global total – an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the previous year.
This marks the 13th consecutive year that China has ranked among the top three globally and the ninth straight year with a share exceeding 10 percent in terms of outward FDI. By the end of 2024, China’s outward FDI stock had reached $3.14 trillion, ranking among the global top three for eight consecutive years.
“Economic globalization is an unstoppable trend. Chinese enterprises going global is about mutual benefit and win-win outcomes – we deliver quality supply, job opportunities, and tax revenues to local communities, while enterprises themselves achieve robust growth. We must continue to make good use of both domestic and international markets and resources,” said Wu Sanqiang, secretary to the Board of China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (CIMC).
Having operated internationally since 1997, CIMC now maintains over 300 foreign affiliates with manufacturing facilities and R&D centers across nearly 20 countries and regions, employing approximately 4,700 overseas staff.
China continues to champion constructive economic globalization, advancing practical cooperation to stabilize global industrial and supply chains while actively supporting worldwide economic growth. Notably in 2024, China’s outward investment stimulated $211 billion in associated goods exports, growing 13% annually and accounting for 5.9% of the nation’s total goods exports.
Chinese enterprises abroad registered $3.6 trillion in sales revenue and paid $82.1 billion in taxes to host countries and regions, while employing 5.021 million people, 65.8 percent of whom were local hires.
Chinese investment is increasingly pivoting toward emerging markets. “In recent years, new shifts have emerged in Chinese enterprises’ global expansion, with investment moving from a focus on developed countries toward emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East,” Wu noted. This year, CIMC established a regional office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, working with subsidiaries such as CIMC Vehicles to support the country’s energy transition.
From Malaysia’s Pavilion Damansara Heights complex to Pakistan’s Peshawar-Karachi Motorway and Cambodia’s Techo International Airport, infrastructure projects built by China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. have been steadily expanding across emerging markets.
This aligns with broader patterns: “In the first half of this year, 60 percent of overseas investment by Chinese contractors went to Belt and Road partner countries, especially in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, giving a strong boost to international infrastructure connectivity,” said Fang Qiuchen, Chairman of the China International Contractors Association. He noted that investment priorities are shifting from traditional energy toward renewables, with green investment steadily rising, opening up broader space for development.
Sinolong New Materials based in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian province develops and manufactures ultra-thin capacitor films, key materials for the new energy sector, supplying customers in over 40 countries and regions. In 2024, the company established its first overseas production base in Indonesia. “This allows us to respond more swiftly to customer needs in Southeast Asia, further enhancing our global competitiveness and brand influence,” said chairman of the company Yang Qingjin.
A growing number of Chinese enterprises are proactively going global to explore new markets. By the end of 2024, Chinese investors had established 52,000 overseas enterprises in 190 countries and regions, including 19,000 in Belt and Road partner countries, with overall operations in good shape. Seventy percent of these enterprises were profitable or breaking even.
In Kazakhstan, Allur Group has become a rising star in the local auto industry, with production and sales steadily increasing year after year. “Since investing in Allur Group, we have introduced Chinese brands such as JAC, Jetour, and Hongqi to the country,” said a representative from Genertec International Holdings Co., Ltd.
On Sept. 7 local time, Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled its NP3.0 battery safety technology in Munich, Germany. In Europe, CATL has set up three major production bases in Germany, Hungary and Spain. From pioneering new models of battery swapping to breakthroughs in recycling technologies, the company is gaining growing recognition among European carmakers with its distinctive strengths.
As China’s industrial structure continues to upgrade, high-tech products, advanced equipment, and green and low-carbon goods are becoming new growth drivers of Chinese manufacturing abroad.
With long-term strengths in independent research and development and industrial clusters, more Chinese enterprises are moving from simply exporting products to exporting brands, capital and technology, expanding their global presence and securing greater development opportunities. By venturing abroad, Chinese companies are not only broadening horizons for themselves, but also injecting fresh momentum into global markets.

By Huan Xiang, Han Liqun, Qu Pei, People’s Daily
Hami, in eastern part of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has long been a key hub on the ancient Silk Road and is known as the “gateway to the Western Regions.”
When Zhang Qian made his first diplomatic mission to the West in the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-25 AD), Hami was an important stop. The Silk Road he pioneered not only fostered cultural exchanges across regions but also left behind a shared taste memory that has endured for millennia, turning “Hami” into a synonym for sweet melons.
Today, Hami’s annual Melon Festival celebrates this heritage as a vibrant feast of sweetness. Interestingly, Khiva in Uzbekistan – another ancient Silk Road cultural crossroads – hosts a parallel melon festival. Together, these two transborder events resonate as a symbolic “sweet bond” connecting communities and industries.
This summer, in the melon fields of Huayuan township of Hami, workers of the Jiaxiang Fruit Planting Cooperative rushed to harvest, sort, and pack crates of fresh melons ready for shipment. “This year we’ve already exported 1,880 tons of Hami melons, with peak daily exports exceeding 80 tons,” said Liu Ruixiang, head of the cooperative.
Hami’s temperate continental climate, featuring abundant sunshine and large day-night temperature differences, gives the melons their exceptional sweetness. Strong photosynthesis during the day allows the fruit to accumulate nutrients, while the cool nights slow sugar consumption.
The story of Hami melons is inseparable from the ancient Silk Road. Along this ancient route, grapes, pomegranates, and alfalfa from the West traveled eastward, while Hami melon cultivation techniques spread to Dunhuang in northwest China’s Gansu province before reaching central China.
Today, Hami melons have become a pillar industry driving local economic growth and improving livelihoods. International exchanges have also spurred advances in breeding. “We’ve been working with countries such as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to share melon germplasm resources, advancing genetic improvement and variety development,” said Zhang Yongbing, a researcher at the Hami Melon Research Center of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Central Asian countries are also testing thick-skinned varieties developed in China, he added.
At the 19th Hami melon festival held recently, 270 varieties spanning ancient and modern times were showcased, drawing crowds of visitors, with popular varieties quickly selling out.
Over the past three decades, Hami has transformed its melon from a single agricultural product into a cultural and economic symbol with global appeal. Since it was launched in 1993, the Hami melon festival has grown into the city’s most festive “sweet celebration.”
Cultural exchanges are adding even more vibrancy to Hami. In July this year, the 7th China Xinjiang International Ethnic Dance Festival set up a sub-venue in Hami, where the State Honored Song and Dance Ensemble of the Republic of Tajikistan “Lola” performed in resplendent traditional dress. “The warm response from the audience in Hami made us truly feel that art knows no borders,” said head of the troupe.
The integration of culture and tourism continues to generate fruitful results. In the first half of this year, Hami welcomed 9.85 million visitors, up 16.46 percent year on year, with tourism revenue reaching 6.379 billion yuan, a 23.22 percent increase.
“The fruits here are just as sweet as those from my hometown,” said Asadbek Bobojonov, deputy editor-in-chief of Silk Road News Network in Uzbekistan, who joined journalists from 10 countries including Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan on a field trip in June this year. In a 100-mu (about 667 hectares) melon farm in Huayuan township, he inquired closely about planting techniques and sales channels.
In Central Asia, melons are more than a fruit – they embody harvest abundance, traditions of hospitality, and national pride. Uzbekistan has been renowned for its melons since ancient times, and every August the melon festival in Khiva draws crowds of visitors.
“Both Hami and Uzbekistan share deep historical ties through millennia-old Silk Road trade routes,” noted Bobojonov. The Hami melon Festival and the melon festival in Uzbekistan can serve as important platforms for cooperation and exchange, he added.
“Hami’s melon festival and those of Central Asian countries all celebrate the sweetness of the harvest and the joy of sharing,” said Wang Lin of the publicity department of Hami’s Yizhou district. Wang called it a vivid example of the cultural affinity between China and its neighbors.
Historically, trade and cultural interaction allowed similar crops and customs to take root across the region. Today, under the Belt and Road Initiative, these shared celebrations have become a ‘sweet bond’ connecting the hearts of people in China and Central Asia.

By Yang Wenming, People’s Daily
Stretching 1,035 kilometers from Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan province to Vientiane in Laos, the China-Laos Railway has become a “golden corridor” linking China and ASEAN, spurring regional economic growth along its route.
Since it opened in December 2021, freight volume has posted double-digit growth for three consecutive years, while daily cross-border passenger flows have risen from around 300 to as many as 1,300. By August 2025, the railway had transported over 66.5 million tons of cargo, including more than 3,000 categories of cross-border goods.
Durian season is the busiest time of year for Zhang Dehuan. Working in cross-border freight on the China-Laos Railway in Yunnan, he never expected this route would become so popular. A 2022 business trip to Laos with a trade delegation revealed the railway’s potential, prompting Zhang to lease 100 refrigerated units in a single bold investment.
It was not easy at the beginning. Zhang promoted his services at fruit wholesale markets in Kunming for days without securing a single order.
“It’s not about the freight rate,” one durian importer told him. With a container of durians worth about 1 million yuan ($140,773), importers were unwilling to risk spoilage. The freight charge of 40,000 yuan was trivial compared with the potential loss of an entire shipment if freshness could not be guaranteed.
Since no importer was willing to take the risk, Zhang decided to buy a batch of durians himself to demonstrate the service.
Once the shipment was on the move, Zhang checked the location and temperature of the container every few hours. After 26 hours, durians transported via the new refrigerated containers on the China-Laos Railway arrived in Kunming in perfect condition, where it was snapped up immediately. One impressed trader signed a deal on the spot to have six containers of durians transported by Zhang’s company.
Before the railway, durians were mostly transported by truck, which took longer and was easily disrupted by landslides, roadblocks, or congestion during the rainy season. Today, with smart refrigerated containers on the China-Laos Railway allowing for GPS tracking and remote temperature control, the journey is faster, the costs comparable, and spoilage rates far lower.
Word quickly spread in Yunnan’s fruit trade circles that “the China-Laos Railway is the safer bet for shipping durians.” Business picked up.
In 2023, cross-border freight on the line reached 4.22 million tons, up nearly 95 percent year on year.
The seasonal surge in perishable goods also tested customs clearance efficiency. “To improve capacity, customs introduced a pre-declaration model, cutting clearance time to just two to five hours,” said Su Ming, head of railway port supervision at Mengla customs under Kunming Customs.
With pre-declaration, data is submitted before arrival, and if no inspection is needed, cargo can clear customs without delay. Meanwhile, the railway increased the frequency of its Lancang-Mekong Express freight service to as many as six trains per day. Now, 18 cross-border freight trains run daily on the China-Laos Railway, significantly boosting capacity.
According to Kunming customs, Yunnan’s agricultural trade with ASEAN reached 18.62 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up 23.5 percent year on year. More than half of this trade moved via the China-Laos Railway.
“Strong freight demand reflects strong domestic demand,” said Zhu Jiang, head of freight operations at China Railway Kunming Bureau Group Co., Ltd. Southeast Asian fruits such as durian and mangosteen are increasingly popular among Chinese consumers. With improved rail capacity, overseas farming, logistics, and related industries have rapidly expanded. In Thailand, durian cultivation has grown significantly in recent years, with over 90 percent of exports bound for China. By the end of August, the China-Laos Railway had transported more than 155,000 tons of durians, up over 90 percent from a year earlier.
At the same time, vegetables from Yunnan are making their way onto supermarket shelves in Vientiane. “It takes just 26 hours for Yunnan vegetables to reach Vientiane and only another day to get to Thailand, almost half the time needed for road transport,” Zhu said.
Chinese goods such as clothing, new energy vehicles, and photovoltaic products are also in high demand across Southeast Asia. Since the line opened, the number of goods transported has grown from over 500 types to more than 3,000. Mohan Railway Port now ranks among China’s top rail ports in efficiency, making it the country’s largest rail gateway to ASEAN.
“The shift from ‘channel economy’ to ‘port economy,’ and now to ‘industrial economy,’ is becoming visible along the China-Laos Railway,” said Xiong Bin, director of the ASEAN Study Center at Kunming University of Science and Technology.
Places such as Mohan in China and Boten and Vientiane in Laos are evolving from agricultural hubs into logistics and industrial centers. The China-Laos Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone has already attracted over 300 enterprises, creating clusters of industries such as cold-chain storage, processing, and cross-border e-commerce. From connecting two countries to linking the entire Indochina Peninsula, the China-Laos Railway is continuing to unlock new potential.

By Meng Fanzhe, People’s Daily
Recently, China released a draft notice on strengthening recalls, production consistency supervision, and publicity regulations for intelligent connected new-energy vehicles (NEVs). The draft makes clear that when providing information on automation levels and system capabilities, companies must not misrepresent or exaggerate functions in a way that misleads consumers.
Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) – including adaptive cruise control, automatic lane changing, valet parking – today, have become standard features, particularly in NEVs. While these advances showcase technological innovation and open up new growth opportunities, some manufacturers’ marketing claims have overstated system capabilities. This risks creating dangerous misconceptions – such as the belief that drivers can remove hands from wheels or disengage entirely during assisted driving operations.
Stronger regulation not only steers companies toward improving product quality, but also reminds drivers to approach assisted driving with the right mindset, reducing the risk of accidents.
Innovation knows no bounds, but safety remains the lifeline of the auto industry. From introducing a new national standard for electric vehicle batteries requiring them to be “non-flammable and non-explosive,” to drafting technical standards for vehicle door handles, and to prohibiting companies from using remote upgrades to conceal defects, China has rolled out a series of strong measures to tighten the “safety valve” and fasten the “seat belt” for industry development.
For companies, the only way to gain trust and support in a competitive market is to put safety first throughout the entire chain, from research and development to marketing, ensuring that technological progress truly serves and benefits people.
As intelligent driving technologies advance, some worry that strict regulation might stifle innovation. The real issue, however, is not whether regulation is “too strict,” but how to regulate in accordance with the law, so that safety and innovation remain balanced on the same scale.
Take Beijing’s regulations on autonomous vehicles for example. The regulations encourage these vehicles to be used for personal transport, while also setting requirements for safety in operations, networks, and data. Today, Beijing’s high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone has expanded from 60 to 600 square kilometers, with licenses issued for over 1,000 vehicles and cumulative test mileage exceeding 38 million kilometers.
Intelligent driving is a key direction for the auto industry, but technology maturity depends on extensive, long-term testing and training. Local practices across China show that by applying reform-oriented approaches, rule-of-law thinking, and pilot-based methods, regulators can guide research institutions and enterprises to balance short-term gains with long-term development, and innovation with safety, thus fostering an NEV sector that is both dynamic and well-regulated.
Safety is the foundation of development, and development in turn secures safety. This principle applies not only to automobiles but to all industries: innovation must never veer off the track of safety.
As intelligent vehicles speed down highways, regulatory frameworks must keep pace. As artificial intelligence permeates daily life, governance standards must evolve. As biomedicine ventures into uncharted waters, ethical and legal boundaries must remain firm.
Boarding the express train of technology is exhilarating, but only by strengthening the awareness and capacity for safe development can humans reach a future full of boundless possibilities.