XI OFFERS YOUTH DAY GREETINGS

President Xi Jinping encouraged China's young people to foster stronger ideals and convictions, build up their capabilities and devote themselves to the course of national development as he greeted youth in a message published on Sunday.

The greetings by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, came ahead of Youth Day, which falls on May 4.

In the message, Xi commended young people across the nation for their active response to the Party's call and in the people's war against the COVID-19 pandemic despite all the difficulties and dangers.

Their sincerity and dedication showed the keen sense of responsibility among Chinese youth today and won a high level of recognition from the Party and the people, he said.

Xi said this is the critical year for China to eradicate absolute poverty and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It is also a year in which the time frames of China's Two Centenary Goals converge.

He called upon Chinese youth to inherit and give play to the May Fourth spirit in the new era, stand firmly with the people, always maintain a progressive stance and press ahead bravely in the long march of realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Xi urged authorities, officials and the whole of society to pay attention to youth development and help them build their careers.

The Communist Youth League of China must assume its glorious missions endowed by the Party in uniting and leading its members to make greater contributions to the course of the Party and the country in the new era, he added.

Youth Day commemorates the patriotic campaign that began on May 4, 1919, when a group of Chinese students protested the weak diplomatic response of the then Chinese government to the Treaty of Versailles that imposed unfair treaties on China and undermined the country's sovereignty.

Xi has always paid special attention to the development of younger generations.

In his report to the 19th National Congress of the Party in 2017, he urged the whole Party to care about young people and set the stage for them to excel.

In a speech delivered at a gathering to mark the centenary of the May Fourth Movement in Beijing last year, he said young people should establish a belief in Marxism and a faith in socialism with Chinese characteristics and underscored that patriotism is the spirit that bonds the nation together.

RETURN OF HK VIOLENCE CONDEMNED

The return of lawlessness and violence to the streets of Hong Kong over the Labor Day holiday has drawn widespread criticism and spread unease throughout the city.

The four-day holiday, which started on Thursday, has seen crowds of protestors clash with police at demonstrations scattered across the city, in defiance of the social distancing edict. Petrol bombs were thrown at a police vehicle on Friday night and police seized 10 kilograms of flammable materials, chemicals and other equipment used for making bombs.

A spokesperson for the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government accused the perpetrators of willfully undermining the city's rule of law, without regard for the suffering of Hong Kong people.

In an online statement published on Saturday, the spokesperson warned that Hong Kong faces an abysmal future if criminals roam city streets unimpeded.

Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said hope of an economic recovery and a return to prosperity had been clouded by the lawless behavior over the holiday.

In his Sunday blog, the city's second-highest ranking official said a small group of radicals was bent on destroying Hong Kong to further their own political aims.

The city's economy faces unprecedented challenges. The government's latest forecasts predict the economy will shrink by 4 to 7 percent this year, much worse than the 0.5 to 1.5 percent contraction forecast in February.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the current economic conditions were the worst since the city began recording its economic performance in the 1960s.

Hong Kong residents also expressed concern about the renewed violence.

Taxi driver Leung Tat-chong said no one wants to see another round of violent protests and deepening social rifts, even those who had previously backed the anti-government protests.

He said some taxi drivers, who supported the riots last year, said they now hoped people would quit creating chaos on the streets and spare the people of Hong Kong further grief after nearly a year of social turmoil.

A 15-year-old was arrested in connection with the petrol bomb attack on Friday night. He is one of 1,400 underage protesters arrested for their roles in the street violence which erupted in June.

The Liaison Office spokesperson said the radicalization of young people came at the sacrifice of their futures and accused Hong Kong's opposition politicians of inciting young people to break the law.

Wong Kwan-yu, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, accused opposition lawmakers of failing to take a clear position against the violence and on occasions appearing to glorify it.

Hong Kong will remain divided if young people are not told to say no to violence, Wong said.

The Liaison Office also condemned foreign politicians and organizations interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs.

The condemnation came after some United States and United Kingdom politicians and organizations objected to moves to enact national security laws as required under Hong Kong's Basic Law.

The Liaison Office rejected their claims that the Hong Kong protests were peaceful.

VOLUNTEERS PROUD TO HELP ON THE FRONT LINE

The Wuhan Institute of Shipbuilding Technology in Hubei province was used as a quarantine site from Feb 8 to March 28, hosting 1,962 people in total. Cheng Shixiong, 21, a volunteer, didn't take a single day off when helping to run the site.

On the morning of March 28, the last batch of recovered COVID-19 patients completed their quarantine and left. "When I saw their smiles, I felt like all our efforts were worthwhile," Cheng says.

President Xi Jinping wrote a reply letter to 34 Party members from Peking University's medical team born in the 1990s who were sent to Hubei province, the former epicenter of the viral outbreak in China, on March 15.

He praised the 1990s generation for their dedication in the fight against the COVID-19, saying that they demonstrated by their actions that the Chinese youth of the new era can be entrusted with great missions.

Cheng said he was touched and encouraged by the letter. "People often have a stereotype about our generation, and the letter is a rectification for us," he says.

The youth volunteers are shouldering social responsibilities and making contributions to the country on their own−not only fighting on the front line of pandemic control, but also helping in every field such as environmental protection and rural education.

Cheng, a junior at the School of Physical Education, Central China Normal University in Wuhan, was responsible for collecting and distributing supplies for quarantined people and medical staff.

As the youngest volunteer at this site, and also a sports training major student, Cheng took on physical work as well as paperwork. He also chose to live at the quarantine site so that he could show up whenever he was needed.

Once a new batch of COVID-19 suspected patients came, Cheng and four other volunteers had to coordinate beds and bedding and prepare dozens of items for daily use including toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap.

One day a 15 metric-ton supply of mineral water arrived. Cheng and two other volunteers needed to move all the bottles from the truck to storage. When they were becoming exhausted, more than 50 firemen showed up to help.

HUBEI PROVINCE TOURISM SPRINGING BACK TO LIFE

Twenty-two major tourist attractions that reopened in Hubei province, the hardest hit region by the COVID-19 contagion in China, had received 520,400 visitors from Friday to Sunday, as people enjoy their first public holiday since the regional lockdown was lifted.

Although numbers were down significantly year-on-year, the tourism market is gradually recovering in the province as pandemic control measures are still in place.

According to the provincial culture and tourism bureau, the number of visitors received was down 83 percent year-on-year between Friday and Sunday, while tourism revenue plunged 94.5 percent to 30 million yuan ($4.2 million).

To avoid overcrowding and protect against risks of potential infection, the bureau earlier said that tourists should make bookings before visiting local scenic sites, and tourist flow should be limited to no more than 30 percent of the maximum capacity.

In the province's capital Wuhan, around 178,000 visits were made at the city's 21 A-level tourist attractions on Saturday, down 58 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said.

Tourism revenue plunged 71 percent to 5.44 million yuan, it said.

Wuhan's landmark Yellow Crane Tower received around 1,000 visitors on Saturday, only 18.5 percent of its daily maximum capacity, said the bureau.

The province lowered its novel coronavirus emergency response level from the highest to the second-highest level on Saturday, with adjustments to prevention and control measures also instituted.

No new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Hubei on Saturday. The province has had no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 29 consecutive days since April 4, according to the provincial health commission.

To revitalize the province's tourism sector, the provincial government established special funds of 100 million yuan to help tourism-sector enterprises influenced by the pandemic, said a notice issued on Friday.

Enterprises and government institutions are encouraged to give their employees a half-day extra vacation each Friday this summer to boost the tourism sector, the notice said.

Medical workers around the country who came to aid the province's fight against the contagion can bring three family members to the province and enjoy free admission to any tourist attraction for the rest of their life, it added.

Han Street, a major shopping district in Wuhan, now has most of its shops open, but the number of visitors is still significantly lower than before the pandemic.

The district requires visitors to wear surgical masks, have their temperature checked and show a green health code before entry.

Jiao Huirong and two of her friends visited Han Street on Saturday to get some fresh air after staying at home for more than three months.

"It's the first time we got together since the outbreak started, and we really missed each other," Jiao said.

COUNTRY SPEEDING UP DEVELOPMENT OF 5G

China is ratcheting up efforts to accelerate the commercialization of superfast 5G technology as it has built 198,000 5G stations and secured more than 50 million 5G mobile subscribers nationwide as of the end of March, the nation's top industry regulator said.

Wen Ku, head of information and communication at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that as of April 20, a total of 95 types of 5G mobile phones had been licensed, and 5G handsets priced at less than 2,000 yuan ($283.3) have already entered the market.

The ministry said it will support smartphone manufacturers to strengthen research, development and innovation in a bid to provide consumers with various types of cost-effective 5G mobile phones and bolster the consumption of 5G phones through optimizing 5G package services and lowering data plan fees.

More efforts are also needed to propel the application of 5G in a wide range of fields, which include virtual reality, augmented reality, livestreamed events, games and entertainment.

Figures from the ministry last month showed the coverage of the 5G network will be further expanded with more than 600,000 stations expected to be built nationwide by the end of 2020.

The move follows urgings for faster development and a new round of infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers proposed at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in March.

"The unprecedented spending on new infrastructure that covers a number of key fields including transportation, energy and telecommunications will help hedge against the negative impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and inject new impetus into the economy amid mounting downside pressure," Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association.

Xiang said 5G-powered technology is taking the lead in enhancing social efficiency, fostering high-quality development and new types of consumption as well as accelerating the upgrading of traditional industries.

Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank, showed that the commercialization of 5G in China is expected to generate a direct economic output of 10.6 trillion yuan from 2020 to 2025, and an indirect economic output of about 24.8 trillion yuan.

TWO NEW INFECTIONS CONFIRMED ON MAINLAND

The Chinese mainland recorded two newly-confirmed COVID-19 infections on Saturday, marking the 18th straight day that saw no additional deaths, statistics from the National Health Commission showed on Sunday.

For the newly-confirmed cases, one was an inbound arrival reported in Shanghai and the other was a local case from North China's Shanxi province, it said.

No new suspected cases were reported on Saturday, the commission said, adding that nine of the existing 10 suspected and 451 of the 531 confirmed cases were imported.

As of Saturday, China had a total of 1,672 confirmed imported cases, with 1,221 of them cured and discharged from hospitals and six still in severe condition.

On Saturday, 28 people were discharged from hospitals after recovery, and the number of severe cases decreased by three to 34.

A total of 82,877 people had been confirmed infected on Chinese mainland while 77,713 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery as of Saturday.

Two of the 12 newly-reported asymptomatic cases on Saturday were inbound arrivals. A total of 968 such cases, including 98 from abroad, are still under medical observation. The day also saw 33 of these patients being released from the observation.

Of the 734,281 people who have been traced as close contacts with the infected, and 7,539 are still under medical observation, it added.

By Saturday, 1,039 confirmed cases, including four deaths, had been reported in Hong Kong, 45 confirmed cases reported in Macao and 432 in Taiwan, including six deaths. And 864 patients in Hong Kong, 38 in Macao and 324 in Taiwan have been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

SHANGHAI RECEIVES OVER 1M VISITORS IN FIRST TWO DAYS OF MAY DAY HOLIDAY

Shanghai's 130 main tourist attractions have received over 1 million visitors in the first two days of the five-day May Day holiday.

The scenic sites received 456,000 visitors on Friday and 633,000 more on Saturday, marking a growing travel and leisure demand, according to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.

The city requires reservations for tours of all tourist attractions to prevent crowding while tourist sites should not exceed 30 percent of their daily or real-time visitor capacity.

Tourists are also required to wear face masks, show their health QR codes and have their body temperatures taken for their safety.

"I feel safe and confident with the new reservation measures," said Li Zhi, who has booked tours to the Zhujiajiao ancient town and Shanghai Oriental Land.

Under the reservation system, tourist sites are also better prepared to prevent crowding and provide better tour experiences to customers, according to Huang Ying with Shanghai Oriental Land.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about. - Winston Churchill