China's power consumption up 8.1 percent in January-June, fueled by manufacturing transformation

China's national power consumption registered an 8.1 percent year-on-year increase in the first half of 2024, driven by rapid growth in the high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors, while energy-intensive industries such as steel-making and construction saw relatively lower levels of power consumption.

In Yichun City of east China's Jiangxi Province, a production plant engaged in new materials production has continued operating as orders have steadily increased since the second quarter.

"The increase in power consumption is due to the adoption of high-power equipment with a relatively high level of automation operation featuring production 24 hours a day all year round," said Sheng Chenfeng, manager of the new materials company.

In Luoyang City of central China's Henan Province, a glass company has transformed itself into a new materials company, shifting from producing low-value glass to advanced glass extensively used in the electronic information industry.

"One ton of the original float glass would be sold for only 2,000 yuan (about U.S. 278.50 dollars). Now, the glass for the electronics industry is valued at 13,000 yuan (about 1,810 U.S. dollars), six times the previous value," said Wu Jingtao, manager of the Department of Production and Management at the glass company.

Divided by industries, energy consumption in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors continued to grow in the six-month period.

The primary industry's electricity consumption reached 62.3 billion kilowatt-hours (KWH), an 8.8 percent year-on-year increase, reflecting the ongoing acceleration of agricultural modernization.

The secondary industry, as the major consumer, saw electricity consumption reach 3.07 trillion KWHs in the January-June period, a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase. Notably, electricity consumption in the high-tech and equipment manufacturing sector grew by 13.1 percent year-on-year. The tertiary industry's electricity consumption increased by 11.7 percent year-on-year, continuing its rapid growth trend.

"As far as the whole of China is concerned, the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry is evident in the slow growth of energy consumption in power-intensive industries such as steel-making and construction, while power consumption in high-tech and equipment manufacturing has seen rapid growth," said Zhai Dawei, deputy director general of the Price Certification Center at the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's power consumption up 8.1 percent in January-June, fueled by manufacturing transformation

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tony Zhu, a Chinese salesman who blends comedy with LED promotional signs, has amassed a global online following by transforming ordinary ads into humorous skits.

In the short clips, Zhu promotes signage products with uncanny accents and impersonations, playfully affecting the speech of the American rural south and even the working-class Londoners of old.

Users from all over the world have professed their affection for this young man in the comment sections of his videos, winning him a fandom he never expected.

"It feels very awesome. I could say, yes, I never imagined that I could be like this, even just one year ago," said the young salesman.

Growing up, Zhu's parents worked at a skate shoe factory in Guangdong Province's Dongguan and encouraged him to study hard. In school, his favorite subject was English, which eventually led him take a job in marketing at the signage company in Guangzhou.

Initially, he made conventional product videos like many others. After a year of seeing the videos gain little traction, he decided to draw inspiration from the Western comedians he admired.

Some of these videos garnered millions of views, bringing in new customers.

"It's not as people thought it could be, like five times or 10 times of growth. No. We made a growth from 5 to 10 percent in total. And to me, that's actually pretty good," he said.

Each day, Zhu and his team create about two videos for social media. To maintain the momentum, a lot of brainstorming is required.

While Zhu views himself as just a salesman doing his job, his fans seem to project onto him something far greater. Some internet comments have even said that Zhu could fix U.S.-China trade relations.

His own aspirations may not reach those heights, but the young salesman does hope to foster more exchanges between businesses on both sides.

"I went to America and I found a lot of ideas that we could learn from. And we also have a lot of American sign company customers coming to China, and they look at what we do and they also find something they can learn. I find it a very amazing thing. Rather than treating each other like an enemy, I think it'd be much better if we chose to learn from each other during competition, during cooperation. It would eventually benefit both sides, I think," he said.

Chinese signage salesman wins global fandom through humor