2 . Liu Jichen, a student from Tsinghua University, has developed a WeChat (微信) mini­program called “Clear Plate”. After a meal, users can open the mini­program and take a picture of their empty plates. Once the picture is recognized by the AI (人工智能), users can collect points and use them to buy gifts or buy charity (慈善) meals and then send them to children in poor rural areas.

In November 2020, Liu and his team, together with other organizations, organized the “Clear Your Plate” program for the third year. It has swept over 1,017 universities across the country.

The idea to develop such a mini­program came from Liu’s experience in a canteen. In 2017, he found that a restaurant would give dinners who finished off their food a card and offer small gifts after a certain number of cards had been collected.

“Technological innovation (科技创新) is a good way to reduce food waste,” Liu thought. He organized a team of 20 members to work on the project at the end of 2017. To solve the AI’s problem of identifying (识别) photos of empty plates, the team spent half a year collecting over 100,000 samples in canteens and restaurants. In 2018, the mini­program was officially put into use on Oct. 16th, World Food Day.

“There were so many unknowns in research and development. For our team members, the biggest challenge was whether we were confident enough to complete it,” Liu said. They not only achieved their goal, but now, the mini-program has more than 5 million users, according to Liu. “We hope our efforts can start a new lifestyle among the young by encouraging them to cherish (珍惜) their food and develop the habit of saving food,” Liu added.

5 . On Nov 21, a special soccer game took place in Doha, the capital city of Qatar (卡塔尔). This was not in the 2022 World Cup, but a friendly match between Chinese teenage players and teenagers from Qatar. The young players stayed in Qatar from Nov 19 to 23. They not only played the friendly match, but also watched the matches of the 2022 World Cup in person.

Huang Junyu is the captain of the Chinese team. He developed an interest in soccer at an early age. “Playing soccer well requires not only good strength and skills, but also the spirit of teamwork,” said Huang. He thought their game with the Qatari teenage players was exciting. They were behind three goals in the first half of the game. But during the second half, Huang scored three goals in a row, and finally ended the game in draw. “The Qatar team is good at attacking (进攻), but we had the spirit of never giving up,” Huang said after the match.

The 11 Chinese players include three girls. Wu Tong is one of them. She played for 50 minutes in the friendly match. “It’s great that girls and boys can play together. Although we girls may be weaker physically, we are good watchers and have calm minds.” Wu Tong has played soccer for seven years, but she didn’t like it at first. “I wanted to cry after training. I felt very tired no matter what I practiced,” Wu recalled, but as she got better at playing, she gradually began to feel the fun of soccer: On the field, she could empty her mind. Now, soccer has become a big part of her life and she wants to become a soccer coach (教练) one day.

The Chinese teenagers also brought cuju to the field. The young players from both sides changed into traditional Chinese cuju clothes and experienced traditional Chinese football culture together. “We can do many moves in cuju. Both sides had a lot of fun playing it,” said Zhang Lu, one of the Chinese players.

8 .

Studying too much?

Most people work or study from Monday to Friday. The weekend is usually a time of rest. But today’s Chinese teenagers can hardly rest during the weekends.

According to a survey, 24% of the Grade 8 students in Beijing have classes at the weekend. Over 40% of the middle school students have less than eight hours’ sleep each night because of study.

And this doesn’t happen only in Beijing. Ji Chunying is a Grade 9 student in Guangzhou. The 14-year-old girl has to get up at 6:45am on Saturday. Then she has classes all the day. On Sunday, she goes to extra (额外) classes for math and physics. But Ji doesn’t complain. She says her classmates all work very hard.

Finding time to have fun

Zhao Ming, 13, is from Zhanjiang, Guangdong. Zhao’s weekend is less busy. But he still spends Saturday in school. On Sunday, after finishing homework, he plays basketball. “I feel happy because I still have time to do the things I like,” he said. Some students are much luckier. Ding Yi, a Grade 8 student from Laiwu, Shandong, is one of them. During the weekend, Ding usually gets up at 8:00 a.m. Then she spends some time doing homework. After that she is free to go shopping or watch TV. “My teacher says I don’t need to push myself too much. Learning well at school is enough,” Ding said. “I feel pretty lucky.”