China continuously strengthens food security: grain reserve authorities

China has further enhanced its ability to ensure food security, with a multi-level and all-round reserve system as well as ample and high-quality grain stockpiles, according to the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration (NFSRA) marking the annual World Food Day on Wednesday.

The country is currently speeding up the procurement for autumn grain, with more than 20 million tons of crops purchased in main grain producing areas so far, showed the latest data released by the agency.

Compared with a decade ago, the design storage capacity of standard grain warehouses across China has increased by 36 percent, the administration said.

The comprehensive loss rate of grain in state-owned grain depots during the storage period is controlled within 1 percent, the administration added.

China successfully launched the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship on Sunday night to send three astronauts to its orbiting space station, with newly released footage from China Media Group (CMG) showcasing the stunning ascent from multiple perspectives.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the trio is set to stay at the Tiangong space station for a year, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship successfully docked with the radial port of Tiangong's core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight mission of China's manned space program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.