Firefighters use high volume pumps to clear excess rainwater from a road in Zhengzhou， capital of Henan Province， on July 21. Extremely heavy rainfall battered Henan on July 20， with precipitation in Zhengzhou exceeding the highest level on local record.
　　On July 21， the Ministry of Emergency Management raised the emergency response for flood control to its second-highest level. A rescue team of 1，800 firefighters has been deployed to the flood-hit region from seven neighboring provinces， together with boats， pumping vehicles， and flood rescue kits.

Cross-Desert Expressway

　　Aerial photo taken on July 16 shows the construction site of a cross-desert expressway in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The expressway， linking Altay Prefecture and the regional capital city of Urumqi， stretches along some 343 km， with more than 150 km constructed across the desert.

Malware Attacks

　　More than 42 million malware attacks were detected in China in 2020， said a cybersecurity report released on July 21.
　　The United States and India are the leading sources of foreign malware attacks against China in 2020， according to the report released by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/ Coordination Center of China（CNCERT/CC）.
　　The number of malware attacks from the U.S. accounted for 53.1 percent of the total foreign attacks， and 7.2 percent of the foreign attacks were from India， said the report.
　　The U.S. also takes the lead in the number of servers controlled by foreign malware that launched cyber attacks against China， the report said， adding that the U.S. had 19，000 such servers in 2020， followed by the Netherlands with 2，083 servers and Germany with 1，923 servers.
　　Founded in 2001， the CNCERT/CC is a non-governmental， non-profit cybersecurity technical center and the key coordination team for China’s cybersecurity emergency response community.
　　The CNCERT/CC started compiling the annual cybersecurity report of China back in 2008.

Diversion Project

　　As of 8 a.m. on July 19， the middle route of China’s South- to-North Water Diversion Project has transferred more than 40 billion cubic meters of water to the country’s arid north， official data showed. 　　Since its launch in December 2014， the middle route has directly benefited 79 million people and has emerged as the key water source for large and medium-sized cities along the route.
　　The middle route， the most prominent of the three due to its role in feeding water to the nation’s capital， starts from the Danjiangkou Reservoir and runs across Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin.
　　The middle route has provided 5.9 billion cubic meters of water to 48 rivers in the north for ecological restoration.
　　About 13 million residents in Beijing benefit from this project， which provides more than 70 percent of the water supply in the city’s main urban areas.
　　The eastern route of the project began operations in November 2013， transferring water from Jiangsu Province to feed areas including Tianjin and Shandong Province.
　　The western route is at the planning stage and is yet to be constructed.

Marxist Classics

　　China has so far published 14 volumes of Ma Zang， a collection of Marxist classics and related documents， featuring a total of 9 million Chinese characters， according to its compiler.
　　Launched in 2015 by Peking University in cooperation with several domestic and overseas research institutions， the compilation of Ma Zang intends to provide the complete picture of the evolution of Marxism. The whole project will take about 20 years.
　　The published volumes include original works and translated versions， articles， reports， files， notes and letters， as well as relevant documents of the Communist Party of China.
　　The compilation of Ma Zang is expected to facilitate a systematical review and a thorough understanding of the adaption of Marxism to China’s context， and lay a more solid theoretical foundation for the development of Marxism in the 21st century， Gu Hailiang， Editor in Chief of Ma Zang， said.

Online Environment

　　China’s cyberspace watchdog vowed to address the phenomenon of promoting underage influencers on the Internet， as part of its campaign that kicked off on July 21 to clean up the online environment for minors.
　　Launched during the summer vacation， the campaign targets minor-related issues on live-stream and short-video platforms and prohibits minors under 16 from engaging in live-streaming performances， according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.
　　Activities such as persuading underage viewers to tip online， misleading them by flaunting wealth or advocating hedonism or sensational content will also be cracked down upon in the campaign， the administration said. 　　Regarding online education platforms， the campaign will remove any erotic， vulgar and violent content on them， and ban them from advertising online games and offensive publications and shows to underage users.

Autonomous Taxis

　　The southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen has for the first time launched a pilot autonomous taxi service for the public.
　　Shenzhen-based company DeepRoute said its robotaxi program is available to the public starting on July 19， making it the first company to provide this type of service in Shenzhen.
　　The company worked with the Futian district government to deploy 20 self-driving taxis in the city.
　　DeepRoute said the vehicles have nearly 100 pick-up and drop-off points， including popular landmarks and COVID-19 vaccination centers， with the service covering over 200 km of public roads in Shenzhen.
　　The taxis are free of charge and open to people aged over 18 through an application process on DeepRoute’s official WeChat account.

Mine Tour

　　Tourists ride a mini sightseeing train around a deserted mine transformed into an ecological park in Qian’an， Hebei Province， on July 21.

Birth Policy

　　A decision was released on July 20 allowing a couple to have three children and rolling out a slew of support measures， ranging from tax breaks to more nurseries and flexible work leave to encourage births.
　　The decision on improving birth policies to promote longterm and balanced population development， dated June 26， was adopted by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.
　　China has been adjusting its family planning policy over the past decade. The two-child policy was partially introduced in 2013 and fully implemented in 2015.
　　According to the decision， by 2025， China will basically establish a policy system that actively supports births with better services and lower costs in childbearing， care and education. The gender ratio of newborns will be more balanced and the population structure will be improved.
　　To legitimize the three-child policy， China will revise its law on population and family planning.
　　The government will no longer charge a fine for couples who violate the family planning law to have more children than allowed.
　　How many children an individual has will no longer be a reference when he or she registers for a household account， enrolls in school， and applies for a job， the document further said.

Sports Fun

　　A fun sports meeting is held for deliverymen in Yinchuan， Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， on July 21.

Fiscal Revenue

　　China’s fiscal revenue saw a yearon-year increase of 21.8 percent in the first six months of the year to exceed 11.7 trillion yuan （$1.8 trillion）， official data showed on July 20.
　　It rose 8.6 percent from the corresponding pre-pandemic level in 2019， according to the Ministry of Finance.
　　Fiscal expenditure went up 4.5 percent in the first six months from a year earlier to 12.17 trillion yuan （$1.9 trillion）.

Trade Corridor

　　A China-Singapore land-sea trade corridor has expanded its reach to 304 ports in 106 countries and regions worldwide.
　　The New International LandSea Trade Corridor is a trade and logistics passage jointly constructed by Singapore and provincial-level regions of west China. Chongqing is the center of operation.
　　Goods are transported via various modes including railways， highways and water routes to the Beibu Gulf in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， before being shipped off to other parts of the world along the sea routes. The corridor offers a faster alternative for western Chinese provinces and autonomous regions other than transporting goods via the eastern coast.
　　From January to June， the Chinese section of corridor transported 47，880 20-foot equivalent units of cargo， a notable yearon-year increase of 147 percent， according to official data.
　　In the same period， landsea freight trains departing from Chongqing made 952 trips， surging 147 percent year on year.

Cross-Border Payment

　　Pilot cross-border payment programs for the digital yuan will be launched based on the experiences of domestic trials and international demand， the People’s Bank of China （PBC） said on July 16.
　　Though technically ready for cross-border use， the digital yuan is currently designed mainly for domestic retail payments， the central bank said in a white paper on the progress of the digital yuan.
　　“Looking ahead， the PBC will actively respond to initiatives of G20 and other international organizations on improving crossborder payments， and explore the applicability of central bank digital currency in cross-border scenarios，” the report read.
　　The PBC will also work with relevant central banks and monetary authorities to set up exchange arrangements and regulatory cooperation mechanisms on digital fiat currency， according to it.

Carbon Market

　　The national carbon market started online trading on July 16， a significant step toward helping China reduce its carbon footprint and meet emission targets， according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
　　Carbon emissions by more than 2，000 power companies involved in the first trading group are estimated to exceed 4 billion tons per year， making the market the world’s largest in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions covered.
　　Carbon trading is the process of buying and selling permits to emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.
　　The market was launched in 2017 after pilot operations in seven provincial-level regions in 2011. Companies are assigned quotas for carbon emissions and can sell surplus emission allowances to those that expect to exceed their pollution quotas.
　　It is necessary to further strengthen the top-level design， refine the roadmap， arrange for more industries and trading entities to be brought into the market， and enrich trading varieties to help the carbon market improve its role in controlling greenhouse gas emissions， said Liu Jie， General Manager of the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange.

Rural Development

　　The per-capita disposable income of rural residents reached 9，248 yuan （$1，426） in the first half of the year， up 14.1 percent year on year in real terms after allowing for inflation， Zeng Yande， a senior official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs， told a press conference on July 20.
　　The pace of growth of rural residents’ income is 3.4 percentage points faster than that of urban residents， he said.
　　China’s agricultural production and the rural economy thrived in the first half of the year. Summer grain output increased 2.97 million tons from last year to 145.8 million tons， reaching a record high.
　　The total planting area of summer grain increased 265，500 hectares， reversing a five-year declining trend， while per-unit yield also saw expansion for three consecutive years to hit a new high.
　　The rural economy logged steady growth during the period. The added value of the agricultural and sideline food processing industry rose 10.7 percent year on year， while rural tourism basically recovered to the level of the same period of 2019. Online retail sales of farm produce also maintained a double-digit growth.

Consumption Hubs

　　The Ministry of Commerce（MOFCOM） announced on July 19 that Shanghai， Beijing， Guangzhou， Tianjin and Chongqing will take the lead in developing international consumption center cities. 　　The move will play a significant role in serving the establishment of a new development paradigm of dual circulation that allows the domestic and overseas markets to reinforce each other， with the domestic market as the mainstay， Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said at a meeting.
　　Efforts will be made to pool quality international market entities， goods and services as well as accelerate the cultivation of local brands， according to Wang.
　　MOFCOM will collaborate with other related departments to unveil a general plan on developing the international consumption center cities. The five designated cities will formulate their respective implementation plans， he said.

Maglev Train

　　China’s new high-speed maglev train， with a designed top speed of 600 km per hour， rolled off the production line on July 20， making it the world’s fastest ground vehicle available today.
　　The new transportation system made its public debut in the coastal city of Qingdao， Shandong Province.
　　It was self-developed by China and marks the country’s latest scientific and technological achievement in the field of rail transit， according to the China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.
　　The new breakthrough demonstrates that China has mastered a complete set of highspeed maglev train engineering technologies， including system integration， vehicle production， traction power supply， rail trails， and transport control and communication， the company said.
　　Launched in October 2016， the high-speed maglev train project saw the development of a magnetic-levitation train prototype with a designed top speed of 600 km per hour in 2019， and a successful test run was conducted in June 2020.
　　The train provides the best solution for trips within the range of 1，500 km， Ding Sansan， chief engineer of the project， said， adding that it fills the speed gap between aviation and high-speed trains.

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