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Rural cultural activities brim with new vitality

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By Liu Yang, People’s Daily

“Village Spring Festival galas,” “rural basketball league,” and “village soccer super league” are all the rage in China. These featured and vibrant rural cultural and sports events, known to the public via livestreaming and short video platforms, have received rave reviews.
They are a miniature of China’s remarkable achievements in developing public cultural facilities and activities in rural communities.
Village Spring Festival galas, featuring entertainment shows with local rural characteristics, has become a new Chinese New Year custom loved by rural communities across China. Rural sports activities have gathered millions of sports fans online and offline, setting a big stage for grassroots athletes and cultural performances. Besides, activities showcasing intangible cultural heritage, rural courtesy and customs shows, as well as rural food festivals are also attracting tons of visitors to the countryside.
These magnificent cultural activities do more than simply enriching rural life and lifting people’s spirits – they also expand new avenues for rural consumption and promote the transition and upgrading of the rural economic structure.
This huge surge in rural cultural activities didn’t just happen overnight. It’s the product of local culture progressively building up steam over time.
Many rural cultural activities had already accumulated decades of history before gaining such widespread attention. For example, village Spring Festival gala dates back to 1981 in east China’s Zhejiang province, when villagers in Yueshan village, Qingyuan county, Lishui built a stage to perform local operas and lantern dances. It has a history of more than 40 years.
The rural soccer league in Rongjiang county, southwest China’s Guizhou province first emerged in the 1990s, and the basketball tournaments in Taipan village, Taijiang county of the province have been held continuously for decades.
What also consolidated the foundation for the thriving cultural development in rural areas are the country’s efforts to advance poverty alleviation and rural vitalization.
After gaining wealth, rural residents have an enhanced demand for cultural enrichment, as well as a heightened sense of responsibility to inherit and develop local culture. Be it the village Spring Festival galas where villagers themselves play the lead, or rural sports events hosted with concentrated efforts, none of this would have been possible without the cultural confidence built up through rural prosperity, nor people’s eager anticipation to pass on and innovate the rural culture.
Riding the fast train of new media, rural cultural activities are being delivered to more people. According to statistics, as of December 2022, the number of Chinese rural internet users reached 308 million, or 61.9 percent of the total rural population. Last year, village Spring Festival galas hosted in Zhejiang province received a total of over 100 million online views. Short videos showcasing the stunt basketball and soccer moves also contributed to the popularity of rural basketball and soccer leagues.
The booming new media sector has significantly improved the communication of information among different regions. This provides huge support for gathering resources for the rich and colorful rural culture and for stimulating relevant industries. It also helps built an expansive platform for rural cultural activities to break through geographical constraints and reach wider audience.
The novelty of rural culture is a reason for rural cultural activities to have stood out from massive online information. Prizes of rural basketball and soccer leagues are mostly local farm produce, such as chickens and ducks. Aluminum basins and cymbals are always used as “bang sticks” by spectators to cheer. Local performances staged in the intervals of the games, including songs and dances with ethnic features, also make these events unique.
It just breaks people’s conventional impressions of farmers and rural lifestyles when farmers turn into athletes and performers dressed in their finest on the stage, and demonstrates the splendor of Chinese farmers and rural culture in the new era.
The booming rural cultural activities effctivelly drives rural economy. In recent years, village Spring Festival galas, rural basketball and soccer events, as well as other cultural activities have become a new focus of the integrated development of the cultural and tourism sectors. They not only led to a growth in the revenues of local B&Bs, hotels and restaurants, but also promoted local tourism resources, intangible cultural heritage items and farm produce.
According to statistics released by Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Guizhou province, the number of tourists received and total tourism revenue of Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village in the autonomous prefecture multiplied when it hosted a village Spring Festival gala this year. Figures from the government of Rongjiang county also indicated a 39.73 percent rise in tourist visits to the county and a 52.08 percent growth in its tourism revenue this May because of a rural soccer league hosted there.
Besides, rural cultural activities also stimulate consumption, providing replicable experiences for the integration and mutual promotion of rural culture and economy.

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Trump begins mass layoffs at Voice of America

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The Trump administration has initiated sweeping layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other U.S.-funded international broadcasters, effectively dismantling institutions long seen as critical for American influence abroad.

 

On Sunday, contractors working for VOA received an email notification that their employment would be terminated by the end of March. “You must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems,” the email read, according to multiple staff members who confirmed the development.

 

The move, which comes just a day after all employees were placed on administrative leave, disproportionately affects non-English-language services, where contractors make up a significant portion of the workforce. Many of these contractors are not U.S. citizens and may now face visa issues, further complicating their status in the country.

 

While most full-time staff remain employed for now, they have been told not to work, leaving VOA and its sister organizations in a state of uncertainty. Some services, unable to produce new programming, have resorted to playing music.

 

VOA, founded during World War II, has been a critical tool for U.S. public diplomacy, broadcasting in 49 languages to audiences in countries where press freedom is restricted. However, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday targeting its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), as part of broader federal budget cuts.

 

The cuts extend beyond VOA, affecting other U.S.-funded media entities such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio Farda (which broadcasts in Persian to Iran), and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network launched after the 2003 Iraq invasion. The administration argues that taxpayers should not fund what it calls “radical propaganda,” despite VOA’s longstanding editorial independence.

 

Liam Scott, a VOA journalist covering press freedom and disinformation, expressed concern over the decision. “I’ve covered press freedom for a long time, and I’ve never seen something like what’s happened in the U.S. over the past couple of months,” he wrote on social media.

 

The move has drawn international attention, particularly from China and Russia, which have been expanding their own state-funded media efforts. The Chinese state-run *Global Times* reacted with an editorial declaring that “the monopoly of information held by traditional Western media is being shattered.”

 

Trump’s administration has pursued aggressive cuts across federal agencies, including eliminating most foreign aid and significantly reducing the Department of Education. With input from tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump has focused on reducing government size to facilitate tax cuts.

 

As the global media landscape shifts, the dismantling of U.S.-funded broadcasters leaves a vacuum that could be filled by rival state-controlled networks. Whether Congress or legal challenges will intervene remains to be seen, but for now, the future of America’s international broadcasting efforts hangs in the balance.

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Judge blocks Trump from deporting non-citizens using wartime law

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A federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s attempt to deport migrants allegedly linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under a wartime law.

US District Judge James Boasberg issued a restraining order preventing the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel undocumented migrants accused of gang ties. The order initially protected five individuals challenging the deportation but was later expanded to all affected noncitizens in US custody.

Boasberg also directed that any planes carrying these migrants be returned to the United States. “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned,” he ruled. The restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days or until further court action.

The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, citing Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization that has “unlawfully infiltrated the United States” and is engaging in hostile actions. However, civil rights groups, including the ACLU, argue that the gang’s activities do not meet the legal definition of an invasion.

The Justice Department has appealed the ruling, while the case continues in court.

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China’s new chapter in global innovation

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By Gu Yekai, Liu Yiqing, People’s Daily

At a smart construction project site managed by China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a quiet technological revolution is underway. Amid cranes and concrete, engineers are deploying advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems that could fundamentally reshape the construction industry.

Li Fengjian, an AI specialistwith Xianyuan Technology, detailed how the company’s latest intelligent system – built on a large model – adapts to complex construction environments.”Engineering machinery equipped with intelligent agents can adjust its operations automatically in response to weather conditions,” Li explained, adding that a spatiotemporal sensing network further enhances the system, providing real-time tracking of both personnel and materials throughout the construction site.

In February this year, Xianyuan Technology rapidly integrated its self-developed model with DeepSeek-R1, effectively blending a general-purpose framework with industry-specific models. This integration, Li noted, has produced a solution capable of delivering expert-level performance in challenging, dynamic environments. The firm is based in the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center, aburgeoning AI incubator that now hosts over 200 innovative enterprises.

China’s technological transformation extends well beyond the construction sector. Overthe past three decades, the country has evolved from its initial forays into internet connectivity to becoming a key player in global digital innovation.

Here, a steady stream of technological innovations are emerging, from the early days of emails and web browsing to the cutting-edge technologies represented by DeepSeek and the dynamic evolution of social media.

Wu Jianping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and headof the Zhongguancun Laboratory, pointed out that while China had introduced only one internet standard before 2005, it now contributes to over 200 worldwide. Such strides illustrate the country’s concerted push toward high-level technological self-reliance – a journey marked by both persistence and determination.

Beyond the digital realm, China is makingsignificant inroads in aerospace, new energy, and other high-tech sectors. It has transitioned from being a follower to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with global leaders, and in some areas, even taking the lead. Wu attributed these achievements to a dynamic ecosystem of policy reforms and talent cultivation that encourages creativity and technical expertise at every level.

Amid intensifying international competition, collaborative research and the integration of new technologies with traditional industries are central to China’s high-quality economic development.

Mei Linhai, a researcher at China’s State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Intelligence, remarked that the age of AI calls for continuous exploration. “In this era, everyone is an innovator. Only by persistently pushing the boundaries can we remain at the forefront of both technological and industrial development,” Mei observed.

In the field of general-purpose AI, Mei emphasized that independent innovation is paramount. He advocates for a self-driven industrial ecosystem that leveragesbreakthrough technologies to boost productivity and unlock new possibilities, Mei said.

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