Children are the future of our world. The healthy development of them is important to any country. The world has long been looking for ways to support children’s healthy development. As for that, the Child Friendly Cities Initiative (《儿童友好城市倡议》), CFCI for short, provides us with a good way forward.

CFCI is an initiative started by UNICEF and UN-Habitat in 1996. The initiative calls on people to build a city in which children can grow up healthily and safely and make their voices heard. The initiative has made a big difference worldwide since it started. Now, there are about 1,000 child friendly cities in the world.

Many cities in China have also shown their interest in joining the initiative. Shenzhen is one of the first cities in China that are trying to go child friendly. The city came up with an initiative called “seeing the world from a height of one meter”. It calls on society to see the world from the perspective (角度) of children and hear their voices. The city has opened up many child friendly spaces like reading rooms and playgrounds. Along with improving children’s living conditions, Shenzhen has also started child friendly radio lines and programs to let children share their opinions.

Building child friendly cities shows our wish for the healthy and happy growth of children. China plans to build 100 child friendly cities by 2025. We hope that all the children can grow up healthily and happily.

2 . As the Spring Festival getting close, it’s time to do some preparation from now.

Different from other festivals, the traditional Spring Festival lasts (持续) more than a month, starting from the second half of La Yue (the twelfth month) and the first half of the Zheng Yue (the first month) of the lunar (农历) year. But what are the special days during this period and what do people do on those days? Here are some customs that you should know.

The 24th day of La Yue in South China is Xiao Nian, the “Little Chinese New Year,” it means the start of the Spring Festival. On this day, people usually do house cleaning. It’s said that the year-end cleaning brings good luck to the coming year. On the 25th day, it is a tradition to make and eat tofu. Because the pronunciation of “tofu” is similar to the word “toufu”, the first fortune (福气), or “tóufù”, the first wealth. So eating tofu has become popular among Chinese people. The 26th day is the day to cook meat, usually mutton or pork, celebrating the coming of the new year. On the 27th day, people wash clothes and take a good shower. These activities mean washing away all the bad luck and illness. It is a tradition to prepare dough (面团) on the 28th day. Because many kinds of traditional food during the Spring Festival such as dumplings are made of dough. This also means preparing plenty of food for the whole family. The 29th day is important, people in most areas get up early and honor their ancestors. It is because the preparations for the festival are almost finished, so it’s time to invite the ancestors back home for the New Year. Finally, it’s the Spring Festival Eve.

4 . Food is the first necessity for people. Over the years, Chinese are working on producing enough food to feed a population of 1.4 billion. The “Father of Hybrid Rice”, Yuan Longping, created the world’s first hybrid super-rice, which is able to yield (出产) 20 to 30 percent more than traditional types.       

Following Yuan’s footsteps, more Chinese scientists are doing creative work in this field. A research team leading by Professor Hu Fengyi from Yunnan University has made great achievements in developing a perennial rice (多年生稻). The results were published in Nature (《自然》国际学术期刊) in November, 2022.       

The perennial rice is a kind of hybrid rice combined (结合) both common types and wild ones. Traditionally, rice should be planted every year. But this kind of rice only needs to be planted every four years. According to the test data of Hu Fengyi’s team in Xishuangbanna and other places in Yunnan Province, perennial rice can yield twice a year. It produce s almost the same amount of rice as the traditional types with much lower labor costs. That can greatly reduce 70% of the work of farmers. In addition, it cuts the use of chemical fertilizers (化肥) so that it reduces the environmental pollution.       

The perennial rice is of great importance to the development of China’s agricultural (农业的) production. It is believed that this new type of rice will be more widely grown in the future.

AI is coming into our life in many ways. Recently, a smart AI technology named ChatGPT came out and excited the world. The number of its users had reached 100 million just in the first two months.

ChatGPT can be used in many different areas. It does quite well in chatting with people in a natural language. You can ask it any question and get a proper reply soon after. It is able to search for the exact information and give you the most useful advice. What amazes people most is that it is quite good at writing. Learning from the data (数据) on the Internet, it can finish a book report, a survey result, a teaching plan and even a novel. It is reported that a university student in the US got the highest score with his essay completed by ChatGPT. The president of Israel (以色列) even gave a public speech written by ChatGPT. In February 2023, this AI technology passed the job interview of Level 3 engineer for coding (编码) with a yearly pay of over $180,000. And in March, the newest GPT-4 came out with higher intelligence and quicker response.

The development of AI technology is surely changing the world. Will it completely take the place of reporters, teachers or painters? This is a big challenge for many to face.