CONSUMER SPENDING UP DURING NATIONAL HOLIDAY

Chinese consumers appear to be spending more money during the National Day holiday than last year.

On the first two days of the eight-day holiday, Chinese consumers spent 628 billion yuan ($92.6 billion) by UnionPay card, up 11.8 percent year-on-year, according to UnionPay.

On National Day, Oct 1, which overlapped with the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, transaction volume recorded by UnionPay reached 330 billion yuan, up 15.5 percent on a yearly basis, it found.

"With the recovery of tourists' confidence, higher travel demand will be activated in the country. Trips to western China, island tours, and tailored road trips are expected to become important forces that help the recovery of the tourism sector after COVID-19," said Gou Zhipeng, president of Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

The rare extended National Day holiday has been the longest public vacation since the outbreak of the virus earlier this year. Longdistance trips and tours of western parts of China have seen growing popularity.

The Tibet autonomous region, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Ningxia Hui autonomous region were the areas that saw the fastest growth of spending on a yearly basis in the first two days, the UnionPay data found.

"With vast land and lower population density, western China fits with the psychology of tourists to avoid crowds in the post-epidemic period," said Zhang Jinshan, a tourism industry professor at Beijing Union University.

"In recent years, the National Day holidays were often peak periods for international trips. Due to the pandemic this year, Chinese tourists chose long-distance domestic trips instead, and it helped the western region to gain popularity," Zhang said.

On the first two days of the eight-day holiday, tourists' spending volume on hotels in Tibet more than doubled year-on-year, while spending on catering grew 49 percent.

In Xinjiang, the amount spent on flight tickets tripled, and spending on admission tickets for sightseeing spots in Ningxia increased by 20 percent, according to UnionPay.

Meanwhile, Chinese consumers have shown continued enthusiasm for the Shanghai Disneyland theme park. For bed-and-breakfast homestays within 3 kilometers of the park, their average price was higher than 1,000 yuan per night during the holiday, Qunar found.

About 550 million people are forecast to take domestic trips during the holiday, about 70 percent of the level seen last year, according to an earlier estimate by China Tourism Academy.

5G SET TO AMPLIFY INDUSTRIAL UPGRADE

In the control room of a steel company in Xiangtan, Hunan province, four technicians are operating joysticks to remotely control bridge cranes in a neighboring high-temperature plant.

Via a big screen which showcases real-time video of the factory, the employees monitor the processes and all the equipment is moving in an orderly fashion.

"Previously, the control center had to be placed within a steel plant to allow it to control the process without a time delay. We had to work in an environment featuring high temperatures, noise and dust. But all of this has changed due to the 5G network," said Liu Jiwen, who is in charge of Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron and Steel's 5-meter-wide thick plate production facility.

According to Liu, 5G's low latency and big bandwidth mean the control center can now be located in a cozy room outside of the mill and one employee can remotely operate multiple bridge cranes simultaneously, significantly boosting efficiency.

That marks a stark contrast to the image of workers toiling away in steel mills with sweat pouring down their faces.

The typical labor-intensive iron and steel industry is undergoing new transformations thanks to the commercialization of 5G and other cutting-edge technologies.

The steel plant also offers a glimpse of how Chinese tech companies are scrambling to partner with a wide range of traditional sectors to promote the industrial use of 5G and unleash the full potential of the most advanced communications technology so far.

Since the start of last year, Valin Xiangtan Iron and Steel has been partnering with China Mobile, the nation's largest telecom operator, and Huawei Technologies, a major telecom equipment maker, to explore 5G's role in empowering employees to work in a green and smart environment, away from occupational and health hazards.

"We have now achieved a string of application scenarios, such as centralized remote control of steel scrap cranes, unmanned cranes in certain areas, remote control of robotic arms and automatic surveillance of hazardous areas in the plant, said Liu Yangbo, a 5G technical expert at China Mobile's Hunan branch.

CHINA TO ADVANCE ON GREAT JOURNEY IN NEW ERA

China has embraced its 71st anniversary of founding, after winning a series of remarkable fights against the COVID-19 epidemic and floods, which helped it turn crises into opportunities and successfully responded to changes.

Withstanding the tests, China is now standing on a new point of history, from which billions of Chinese people, with confidence and pride, will embark on a great journey in the new era.

Human history, like a river, runs forever, witnessing both peaceful moments and great disturbances. The heroic Chinese people is never afraid of rains and storms and will always proceed against challenges. Since this year, facing a severe situation and unprecedented challenges, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has led the Chinese people from all ethnic groups to tackle difficulties, with strong leadership and brilliant governance, nurturing new opportunities in crises, and seeking chances among changes. As a result, China secured stable performance of reform and opening-up, and a successful ending of its 13th Five-Year Plan. It is expected to achieve a final victory over poverty, and finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

In face of the sudden COVID-19 outbreak, billions of Chinese people launched a breathtaking war against the virus under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, withstanding an arduous test of history, achieving major strategic results, making another magnificent feat in the history of human beings’ fight against diseases, and building a great spirit of combating the COVID-19 epidemic, which features putting people's lives first, nationwide solidarity, sacrifice, respecting science, and a sense of mission for humanity.

China has become the first major economy to return to growth since the COVID-19 pandemic and is leading the world in both epidemic prevention and economic recovery, which demonstrates the outstanding efficiency of the country’s governance system. The indomitable Chinese people once again defeated hardships and left a glorious page in the history. Salute to the great People’s Republic of China, and salute to the great Chinese people.

THE RECOVERING OF CHINA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY IS A HARD FACT

With COVID-19 well under control within China, the tourism industry resumed quickly. As consumption is currently a vital part of the Chinese economy, this resumption is now providing a significant support for the Chinese economy and income of local people.

Overall speaking, according to the data published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, on the first day of the National Day, which is the same day this year's Mid-Autumn Day falls on, the domestic tourism market of China has seen 97 million tourists, 73.8 percent of the number last year. The total income generated by tourism activities reached 77 billion yuan, is 68.9 percent of what it was in 2019.

There are a few reasons behind this resumption and the relatively smaller figure compared with the same period of 2019.

The first reason that supported a 70 percent resumption is the controlling of the pandemic within China. If COVID-19 was still spreading in China, there would be no chance that we could see a 70 percent resumption of the tourism industry.

The second reason is that the virus containment measures are still very strict in many parts of China. For example, some companies have suggested that their employees stay within the city for the holiday, since the potential health hazard can cause headaches to business operation after the National Day holiday. Also, many people have chosen not to travel due to the concerns they still have for the pandemic. Finally, not all tourist spots have been opened. For those that are open, some of them are still strictly limiting the number of tourists and checking their body temperatures, as well as using digital passes.

Although currently the tourism industry has not yet reached a full recovery compared with 2019, this resumption is quite evident compared with the first few months of the year. According to reports from the Associated Press, the number of tourists that visited major tourism spots in China has increased by 159 percent in the second quarter when compared to the previous quarter.

Similar data can be found in regional tourism markets. For example, in Beijing, the 223 major tourism spots received a total of 1.1 million tourists on October 1, 143 percent more than the number on May 1, which is another major national holiday in China; the income generated increased by 169 percent.

China's aviation industry has also seen a rapid recovery. More than 164,700 domestic flights were scheduled during the holiday, an increase of more than 11 percent, compared with the same time in 2019. Recently in the stock markets on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong, the stock prices of companies such as Air China, China Southern Airlines have seen a huge rally.

Another reason that has limited the number of tourists on the first day of October is that the National Day coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional holiday for Chinese people to have family reunions, therefore many people are staying home instead of travelling. Besides, this holiday lasts for eight days, therefore many people choose not to travel on the first day since they still have days left to spend.

Local governments are taking actions to boost the tourism industry. For example, in Hainan Province, the ferry fee for transporting vehicles across the strait has been suspended for cars from other provinces.

Overall speaking, China's domestic tourism industry is recovering swiftly during the National Day holiday. With COVID-19 gradually being contained across the globe, we will possibly see a positive trend in China's cross-border tourism in the coming months.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws,

and thumps about things which the intellect scorns. - Mark Twain