Briefly
CHONGQING
Customs cracks over 400 smuggling cases
Customs authorities in Chongqing cracked 404 smuggling cases involving goods worth over 1.2 billion yuan ($190 million) last year, officials said. The authorities carried out various campaigns targeting the smuggling of drugs, arms and ammunition, imported waste, and endangered animals and related products. Chongqing customs said it will attach special importance to smuggling cases and crack down with an iron fist.
BEIJING
200 million workers are flexibly employed
China's flexibly employed workforce totaled 200 million at the end of last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said recently. More than 1.6 million people were working in jobs related to livestreaming, a year-on-year increase of nearly 300 percent, the bureau said. Over the past two years, 16 percent of all college graduates in China chose flexible employment, according to data from the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center. The China Development Report on Flexible Employment (2022), released by researchers at Renmin University of China, said 61.14 percent of Chinese companies offered flexible employment last year, up 5.46 percentage points compared with 2020.
HUNAN
Waterfowl population at Dongting hits record
A record-high 404,000 waterfowl representing 74 species have been spotted at Dongting Lake, the country's second-largest freshwater lake, in Central China's Hunan province, according to local authorities. The provincial forestry department said 447 birds were in five species under first-class protection, and 25,000 birds were in 12 species under second-class protection. Meanwhile, 140 black storks spotted at a nature reserve in Yueyang, Hunan, comprised the largest black stork population reported in China.
TIBET
Region releases plan to further develop sports
Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region has released an implementation plan for mass sports development between 2021 and 2025 that sets clear targets. The regional sports bureau plans to build or reconstruct no fewer than 34 sports parks and 95 national fitness centers. According to the plan, people who often exercise are expected to account for 38.5 percent of the region's population by 2025. The region aims to develop its mass sports brand by continuing to stage activities such as the Tibet mountaineering conference and the Lhasa half marathon.
Xinhua - China Daily
