3 . Three Chinese astronauts (宇航员), Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo, who were sent into space in the Shenzhou-12 spaceship for the space station construction mission (建造任务) on June 17, landed successfully at the Dongfeng landing place on September 17, 2021.

The successful manned mission marks the second time within five years that China’s Shenzhou manned spaceships have taken Chinese astronauts to space and brought them back home safely. Spending 90 days at the space station, the Shenzhou-12 astronauts have set a new record for China’s manned space mission duration and got rich experience for future space journeys.

From building Chinese people’s “new home in space” to entering the space station and carrying out extravehicular activities twice in one space mission, and from one day of the Shenzhou-5 to 90 days of the Shenzhou-12 in space, China’s footprints in outer space show the progress of its space program and the results of people’s hard work for the program.

It is joked that the three Shenzhou-12 members returned to the earth from a business trip to space just in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Shenzhou-12 astronauts congratulated Chinese players on their excellent performances, and the players expressed their thankfulness and wishes to the astronauts. The communication between them has become one of the most discussed subjects on the Internet.

At the same time, the sci-tech innovations behind astronauts’ wonderful life in the space station and the amazing pictures taken from space have connected China’s space program with the country’s teenagers and adults. It inspires teenagers to dream of traveling and learning about the unknown, and interests everyone in the country to set off for a beautiful future.

5 . New Capital of BBQ

Zibo city in Shandong has unexpectedly become famous on Chinese social media late February for its local barbecue specialty, and this trend continues as the local government takes the chance to promote (推广) tourism and spending. The city has opened 21 bus lines for visitors. To make more people come, it has made a rule: visitors between 18—35 can get a discount (折扣) in some hotels.

The final game of the Guizhou country basketball league (联赛), known as “Village BA”, took place on March 27 and Team Qiandongnan won the Championship Cup. The players were all amateurs (业余选手) and mostly farmers from local villages and nearby cities. Since 2016, the local government has worked hard to build new standard basketball courts to support basketball development.

Program helps countryside Tourism

By using the “Culture and Tourism e-Village” program, which can be found on WeChat, visitors now can enjoy the sightseeing (观光) of villages and towns in Jiangsu on their phones. The program, developed by the local government, has been popularly received by visitors and farmers since it was released. The program will cooperate with more tourism villages in Jiangsu to develop the province’s countryside tourism.

9 . Climate change has been a hot topic for a long time now. Scientists often provide new studies and suggestions for protecting our planet.

Scientists in the US recently invented the whitest paint ever made. The paint can reflect (反射) up to 98 percent of sunlight and cool surfaces by 4.5 C—even in direct sunlight.

The researchers hope that this new paint can help cool down the planet if it is used to paint buildings. “Our paint can help fight against global warming by helping to cool Earth—that’s the cool point,” Professor Ruan Xiulin from Purdue University said. “Producing the whitest white means the paint can reflect the maximum amount of sunlight back to space.”

There are two things that make the paint so white. First, it has a large amount of barium sulphate (硫酸钡). Barium sulphate is used to make paper white. Also, the barium sulphate particles (微粒) in the paint are all different sizes, which helps to reflect more light. But exactly how much paint would be needed to help stop climate change? “We guess we would only need to paint l percent of the Earth’s surface with this paint—perhaps an area where no people live that is covered in rocks— and that could help fight the climate change,” Professor Ruan said.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer to use it. The new whitest white paint could be on the market in about one or two years.

When: On December 18, 2023

Where: Jishishan County, Gansu, China

What happened: An earthquake killed at least 148 people. The biggest one had a magnitude (震级) of 6.2.

How many people were injured: More than 1,000

Jishishan is a small county in Northwest China. It’s in the mountains and has a population of about 260,000.

At 23:59 on a cold night of December 18, 2023, many people in Jishishan were sleeping when the earthquake happened. It was very strong, and houses began to shake. After hearing big noises, people ran out of their houses as quickly as possible. They were very scared. A lot of buildings and roads were destroyed. People in Lanzhou, about 100 kilometers northeast of the place, also felt the quake.

After the earthquake, the biggest problem was the cold temperature. The government worked hard to help the people immediately. They received tents, food and medicine from the government. Doctors and nurses came to help the injured people. At least 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers went there to offer help.

How to keep safe in an earthquake? In most situations, you can protect yourself if you immediately DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON.

If you are inside, stay inside.

—Get under a table or a bed.

—Stay away from windows.

—Don’t use lifts.

If you are outside, stay outside.

—Move away from buildings.

—Go to an open area away from trees, telephone poles, and buildings.