China successfully launched the Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship on Thursday, sending a crew of three astronauts to the orbiting Tiangong space station for a six-month mission.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off at 20:59 (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
About 10 minutes after the launch, the Shenzhou-18 spaceship separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit. The crew members are in good shape and the launch is a "complete success," the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.
While in orbit, the Shenzhou-18 spaceship is scheduled to make a fast, automated rendezvous and docking with the space station combination. The Shenzhou-18 crew will rotate with the Shenzhou-17 crew in orbit.
The Shenzhou-18 crew members are Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, with Ye as the mission commander.
The Shenzhou-18 mission marks Ye's second journey into space, following his previous role as a crew member during the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022. Li Cong and Li Guangsu, who belong to the third group of Chinese astronauts, are both embarking on their first-ever space adventure.
They will take over the command of China's Tiangong space station after completing an in-orbit handover with their colleagues of the Shenzhou-17 mission, who are scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 30.
During their stay in space, the astronauts will carry out more than 90 experiments, two to three extravehicular activities (EVAs), and implement six cargo outbound deliveries via the station's cargo airlock module.
The crew will witness the arrival of the Tianzhou-8 cargo craft and Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship during their stay.
China successfully launches Shenzhen-18 manned spaceship
China successfully launches Shenzhen-18 manned spaceship
China successfully launches Shenzhen-18 manned spaceship
The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government always stick to the path of common prosperity by placing enriching the people as a top priority.
In "Classic Quotes by Xi Jinping", CGTN host Liu Xin and Canadian Majid Ghorbani, an associate professor at the China Europe International Business School visited beekeepers from Miyun, a northeast suburb of Beijing, to explore the modern implications of this ancient wisdom for Miyun's beekeepers, as they embark on a journey to common prosperity.
"The key to running a country is to first enrich the people." The saying, which comes from Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, a monumental history book of ancient China compiled about 2,000 years ago, sets forth the traditional Chinese philosophy of governance: the common people are considered the foundation of a country and only when the people prosper can the country prosper.
This is a classic piece of Chinese wisdom, and it has become part of the governance philosophy of China in modern times.
Miyun District has over 300 years of beekeeping history, and modern techniques are taking the industry to new heights.
Liu Jinliang, a second-generation beekeeper in Miyun District, practices multi-box beekeeping. He is China's first beekeeper to successfully utilize the technique, introduced by the district government in 2016.
It took the young bee farmer five years to fully implement the new technique, and now, it is helping his family and local beekeepers live a "sweet" life.
"This apiary has over 200 hives. This multi-box structure includes one brood box and two supers. That's three layers. This is the minimum number of boxes. Traditional beekeeping only uses two boxes. Let's check this hive to see how much honey the bees have produced. When the cells are capped, it means the honey is ripe," said Liu.
"What is being taken from the beehive, is called natural honey, which doesn't need to be processed. Through my practice, I want to show other beekeepers that we can produce pure ripe honey and help increase our income," he said.
Spurred on by Liu and the local government, around 30 percent of bee farmers in Miyun have now adopted the new technique, greatly boosting the output and quality of their honey. Over 360 low-income farmers in Miyun have shaken off poverty since joining the beekeeping project.
The beekeeping industry in Miyun generated around 130 million yuan (about 18.28 million U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2020, an increase of 19.3 percent over 2019. Encouraged by what has been achieved in Miyun, more and more bee farmers across China have turned to the multi-box beekeeping technique for raising their honey output while improving quality.
Chinese President Xi Jinping once quoted the ancient Chinese proverb, "The key to running a country is to first enrich the people" to explain why the country is striving for common prosperity. Liu's story gives a glimpse of China's exploration of the paths to achieve that goal.
When quoting the saying at a gathering to mark China's poverty alleviation accomplishments and honor model poverty fighters, President Xi pledged the country would adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, and unswervingly follow the path of common prosperity.
"The key to running a country is to first enrich the people. China upholds a people-centered philosophy of development and unswervingly pursues prosperity for all. Ending poverty, improving people's well-being and realizing common prosperity are the essential requirements of socialism," said Xi.
Behind Liu's success is the Miyun District government. It has helped local beekeepers learn advanced apiculture techniques and provided them with high-quality queen bees at no charge.
"Any government that doesn't think about the people, then they're not gonna be able to run the country as well," said Majid.
"So this goes back to what management we call expanding the pie. If he tries to make everybody else grow with him, (the) price of honey eventually from his region is gonna become higher and higher. So that pie is gonna expand. And that's common prosperity, the meaning of common prosperity," he said.
To better help beekeepers, the district government has also provided financial aid to support about 30 projects in the sector, with an investment of about 100 million yuan (about 14 million U.S. dollars), to help make commercial beekeeping standardized and industrialized.
China sticks to path of common prosperity to enrich people first
