UK firm buoyed by its success in China

UK-headquartered infant swimming school Water Babies plans to open its first swim centers in China this year, and intends to go on to build 80 facilities across the country in the next 10 years.

Leshi admits to major accounting problems

Leshi Internet Information& Technology Corp, the listed arm of troubled Chinese internet company LeEco, told a shareholder meeting on Friday that it is facing a major accounting problem due to the huge related party transactions.

Investors make a beeline for Xiongan New Area stocks

Companies related to Xiongan New Area saw their share prices surge on Friday, a day after an official release outlined the guidelines for the area.

IN BRIEF (Page 6)

ROLE MODEL FOR INNOVATION, HIGH-QUALITY DEVELOPMENT

Editor's Note: The Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone in Hebei province, some 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, will mark the first anniversary of its inception on April 1 this year. The new zone is seen as an important area of national significance after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area and a historic project "crucial for the millennium to come". Xiongan New

McCarthyism making a comeback in the US

When we learn that Chinese students and scholars were singled out as a threat to US national security at a congressional hearing on Feb 13, what comes to mind is nothing but the return of the notorious McCarthyism.

Merkel's alarmist talk harks back to days of the Cold War

Since China launched its Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, some politicians in the West have taken a skeptical attitude toward it, and even drummed up suspicions with their outdated "China threat" rhetoric. In the latest, and unexpected example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that China must not link its investments in the western Balkans to political demands at a joint news conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in Berlin on Wednesday.

Delivery companies to the fore in fight against plastic waste

CHINA HAS IMPLEMENTED newly revised national standards for packing materials used for express deliveries, which require the delivery companies recycle their packing materials to reduce plastic waste. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

Quest for quick profits is self-destructive

DURING THE Spring Festival holiday from Feb 15 to 21, China's box office has created some noteworthy records. Monster Hunt 2 made 550 million yuan ($86.58 million) in box revenue on its opening day, breaking the record set by Fast & Furious 8, which raked in 478 million yuan on its opening day. And the combined box office revenue of three other Chinese movies hit 3.2 billion yuan in the first three days of the holiday, pushing the total box office revenue over that period up 65 percent year-on-year. Rednet.cn comments:

End Sanya's de facto monopoly by airlines during the holidays

THIS YEAR when the Spring Festival holiday ended all the economy class tickets for flights from Sanya in South China's Hainan province to Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, which in previous years could normally be purchased for about 3,000 yuan ($476), had completely sold out, and the prices for the business class tickets that remained cost about 20,000 yuan. Beijing News comments:

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China's soft power is on the rise

Soft power is the ability of a country to shape other countries' views, attitudes, perceptions and actions without force or coercion. Exercising soft power, a state can attract supporters and partners towards its policies, views and actions. Its importance has been known for centuries, but the term was coined by Joseph Nye in the late 1980s.