The decision of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature of China, to improve the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has won wide support from the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots.

However, a very few countries in the west recently issued statements to smear the NPC decision, which trampled on international laws and basic norms governing international relations and came as blatant interference in China's internal affairs.

The ancient Huang Ju Irrigation Project, located in southeast China's Fujian province, has started to supply water once again, having been put into operations in early May.

The project, with a history of more than 1,400 years, was named after its designer Huang Ju, an official of the Sui Dynasty (581-618). The system comprises two canals and could provide water to a total land area of more than 20,000 mu (1,333 hectares) when it was first put into practical use in ancient China. It was the most advanced irrigation project constructed during the Sui Dynasty.

Positive economic growth: only major economy with positive performance in pandemic

Due to China’s swift recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has become the only major economy to record positive performance in 2020, with a projected 1.8- percent growth, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in December. Despite a 6.8-percent year-on-year contraction in the first quarter, the Chinese economy increased by 3.2 percent in the second quarter and maintained a steady growth of 4.9 percent in the third quarter, showing a V-shaped recovery.

Fun cultural phenomena during the pandemic: unbearable imps, humble brags and the young Tibetan star

During the first months of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay indoors as much as possible. In certain cities which were recognized by health authorities as high-risk areas, quarantine and home-isolation were imposed on citizens to avoid unnecessary contact.

Complete mission impossible: elimination of extreme poverty & building a moderately prosperous society in all respects

In the face of compounded challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a teetering global economy and other dire planetary, such as climate changes, have raised a question to the Chinese authorities: can the country keep its promise to eradicate extreme poverty by the end of 2020?

-- "One of the great misunderstandings is that China is not a democracy," said Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American writer and commentator.

-- "The whole-process democracy is a hallmark of socialist democracy that distinguishes it from various capitalist democratic systems," senior lawmaker Wang Chen said.

-- China aims to develop a system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and this system will take shape over the next five years.

China is less a competitor and more a wannabe of the world, and the United States and China should learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses to achieve prosperous coexistence, said American economist Richard Wolff.

In a video of Richard Wolff’s radio program Economic Update posted on Aug. 24, 2020, the professor rejected the demonization of China, noting that China and the United States have more similarities than many would realize.

The municipal government of Beijing plans to invest about 1 billion yuan (around 153 million U.S. dollars) in funds this year to help improve education in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Benign interactions between China and the U.S. in climate governance are highly anticipated as humanity is faced with mounting global climate change challenges and climate governance has entered a crucial stage.

Climate change concerns the welfare of people around the world and mankind’s future. Various parties need to jointly address the issue with ambition and determination.

A 7.6-kilometer-long elevated bicycle path in Xiamen, east China’s Fujian province, has brought great convenience to commuters while witnessing the city’s endeavors to promote green and low-carbon means of transport.

Lai Tingsi, a citizen in Huli district of Xiamen, is one of the commuters who have benefited a lot from the bikeway. The bikeway is also China’s first bicycle path built in the air and the longest elevated bike lane in the world.

Lai lives three kilometers away from where she works. Although the commute to work may not be long, it still distressed her.

-- In the face of production shortfalls across the world, some rich countries are hoarding vaccines, leaving poorer ones defenseless in the face of the deadly pathogen. As of mid-January, high-income countries, which represent only 16 percent of the world's population, had taken 60 percent of available doses.

-- Experts said closing the immunity gap is not only about morality and conscience, but also the key to stopping the pandemic by cutting risk of more new variants.

The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on Thursday adopted a decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The decision was passed by an overwhelming majority vote at the fourth session of the 13th NPC.

The decision is another major step taken by the state to improve the HKSAR's legal and political systems since the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR was adopted in June 2020.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven richest countries are finally having their first in-person meeting in two years in London, and apparently U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will not miss out on this opportunity to peddle his "China threat" conspiracy.

According to media reports, ministers from those like-minded countries joined a Tuesday morning session dedicated entirely to China, during which, with apparent maneuvering and guidance from the United States, they concluded by accusing China of being "coercive."

Education is a fundamental solution to the intergenerational transmission of poverty, and higher education remains a vital part of the solution.

According to China's Ministry of Education, a total of 5.14 million registered impoverished students have received higher education since November 2012, and the number is growing annually.

 China's film authorities will continue to crack down on film copyright infringement to maintain the sound development of the film industry, said a statement issued on the website of the China Film Administration (CFA) on Wednesday.

The statement was released in response to the recent rise in copyright-infringing short videos, such as those featuring synopses of films.

China has issued its first batch of forest carbon credit stamps in Sanming City, east China's Fujian Province, in a move to use market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions.

Forest carbon credits are permits for companies to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide. They are converted from added forest areas and the amount of carbon they can capture. The first five stamps issued on Tuesday in Sanming offer forest owners credits for 29,715 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Tuesday agreed to deepen cooperation as South Asian countries are facing a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a video conference with his five counterparts, discussing efforts to consolidate anti-coronavirus cooperation including vaccine supply, to boost post-epidemic economic recovery, and to maintain sound international environment for the development of all countries.

The State Council Information Office held a news conference on the outcome of the seventh national population census on Tuesday. Here are the highlights:

 - Chinese mainland registers a population of 1.41 billion, with an annual growth rate of 0.53 percent in the past decade, down from 0.57 percent recorded from 2000 to 2010.

China has seen a surge in interest among young consumers in domestic brands and products that incorporate traditional Chinese style and culture over the past few years, according to an industrial report.

Chinese people's interest in domestic products soared by 528 percent compared with 10 years ago, said a report jointly released by Internet giant Baidu and an institute under People.cn.

China's monthly box office revenue hit a record of 12.2 billion yuan (1.88 billion U.S. dollars) in February, marking the highest-grossing month the country has ever seen.

The figure surpassed the previous monthly record of 11.16 billion yuan for February 2019.