SHUTTLER ‘SUPER DAN’ ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

　　Chinese badminton’s “Super Dan” Lin Dan announced his retirement on social media on July 4.
　　“From 2000 to 2020， after 20 years， I have to say goodbye to the national team. It is challenging to say it out loud，” the two-time Olympic gold medalist and fi ve-time world champion said on Weibo， Chinese social media.
　　Lin had a lackluster performance entering the Tokyo Olympic cycle and encountered many challenges in the Olympic qualification process. But the 37-year-old didn’t give up and trained hard to reach his fifth Olympic Games. However， the Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed by one year due to the novel coronavirus disease （COVID-19） pandemic， further casting a shadow on Lin’s journey to Tokyo.
　　After this year’s All England Open in March， Lin continued to train with the Chinese national team. However， the Badminton World Federation postponed major tournaments and an old injury still dogged him， forcing him to retire， according to the Chinese Badminton Association.

A Hopeful Return

　　Guangming Daily June 30
　　The China Basketball Association （CBA） has restarted after an almost fi ve-month shutdown for the coronavirus epidemic， with the joint efforts of the basketball league， the association and relevant authorities. The return raises hopes of a national sports revival.
　　To ensure the smooth running of the matches and protect people’s health， the CBA has adopted comprehensive measures. For instance， the 20 teams have been divided into two groups； one group will play their matches in Qingdao， Shandong Province in the east， while the other will play in the southern city of Dongguan， Guangdong Province. The players and staff will be examined for virus symptoms three times at least two weeks before the matches and there will be no audience in the stadiums.
　　“As the fi rst major national sports league to restart in China， the CBA has a far-reaching significance for promoting work resumption and restoring our everyday life. Its social impact has gone beyond the game itself，”Yao Ming， CBA President， said in a statement ahead of the fi rst match.
　　With China entering a phase of epidemic control， the CBA resumption will provide an experience for other countries’ national sports events and reinstate confidence in uncertain times.

Enhancing Testing Capability

　　Beijing Youth Daily June 29
　　Nucleic acid testing is an essential means to trace and contain viruses， especially the novel coronavirus. A cost-sharing mechanism for the mass tests should be created， including reagent procurement， institutions and labor services. Policies such as test prices and medical insurance payment should be improved. 　　Beijing has put considerable effort into preventing the disease from spreading by cutting off the source of transmission and testing those infected， in which nucleic acid detection plays a significant role. According to containment regulations， all people who worked in or visited the Xinfadi wholesale market where a cluster of infections occurred recently， and other markets should be tested， as well as those working in the catering and delivery industries.
　　Residents in middle and highrisk areas， frontline personnel for epidemic prevention work and staff of services sectors such as transportation， banks and supermarkets， are also required to be tested. The municipal government has included drugs and medical services related to COVID-19 treatment and testing in medical insurance reimbursement. Since May 19， the cost of mandatory testing for designated groups such as delivery workers has been borne by municipal and district governments.
　　During the regular phase of epidemic prevention and control， some citizens have asked for voluntary testing， which can be met with the improved capability. Public hospitals will charge fees according to government guidelines， and the fees will be paid by the individuals. On June 25， the price for voluntary tests went down from 180 yuan （$25） to maximum 120 yuan （$17.10） at all the city’s public medical institutions.
　　With the government’s guidance in price and medical insurance， Beijing will optimize its cost-sharing mechanism and strengthen its test capability.

Urban Management

　　People’s Daily July 6
　　With their expansion and increasing population， Chinese cities have to advance management to support people’s life and production， where the community plays an increasingly important role.
　　Municipal employees have to not only take responsibility for implementing policies but also highlight residents’ problems to help the government improve its work. Enhancing functions is critical in many spheres， including garbage sorting， the transformation of old residential areas and building “life circles” providing daily necessities and services to people in communities. With urban problems growing more complex， urban management has to adopt innovative methods. In the 5G era， advanced technologies， including big data， cloud computing and artifi cial intelligence， have advantages over traditional means in collecting data， trend prediction and resource scheduling.
　　Changing the old order in cities facing new emerging problems requires urban management to come up with a flexible and targeted solution. For instance， it is unrealistic to build more parking lots in cities with limited space though the number of private cars is still growing. So some cities have designed a mechanical parking system. The ultimate purpose of urban management is to serve residents. Therefore， self-governance at the community level should be fully implemented assimilating suggestions form the people. The mode will become a supplement for self-management by residents.

BEIDOU DESIGNER PASSES AWAY

　　Xu Qifeng， who designed the constellation plan for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System （BDS）， died in Beijing at the age of 84 on July 2.
　　Xu， an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and doctoral supervisor at the School of Navigation and Air and Space Target Engineering of the PLA University of Information Engineering， worked on developing a Chinese system since graduating from the PLA Information Engineering University in 1958. He later began to teach in the university and became one of the fi rst scholars to study the global positioning system （GPS）.
　　Xu presided over 20 projects on national defense and military science research. His book GPS Navigation and Precision Positioning， published in 1989， is China’s fi rst monograph on GPS technology.
　　Xu proposed establishing a regional satellite navigation system according to China’s situation and designed the satellite constellation plan.
　　Twenty years later， the BDS has been independently constructed and is being operated by China to meet its national security and economic and social development needs.
　　“The coronavirus may have lain dormant across the world and emerged when environmental conditions were right for it to thrive—rather than starting in China.”
　　Tom Jefferson， senior tutor of the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford， writing in The Telegraph newspaper on July 5
　　“The law on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong targets a tiny number of people endangering national security while protecting the freedoms of the general public， including the freedom from fear.”
　　Lau Siu-kai， Vice Chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies， to Xinhua News Agency on July 6
　　“The global COVID-19 pandemic is still rising， and it is foreseeable that similar outbreaks could happen in other areas in China， although their scale will be determined by how the strategy of early identification， reporting， isolation and treatment of cases is carried out.”
　　Gao Fu， Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention， to China Daily on July 3
　　“The U.S. is pursuing a path of tech isolationism and combined with its other foreign policy choices... countries around the world are now thinking that the future really lies in working with China.”
　　Andy Mok， research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization， on China Global Television Network on July 4