Number of exit- entry exceeds 600,000 at Urumqi International Airport

Urumqi port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen a surge in activity this year, with the number of exits and entries surpassing 600,000 and a 144.5 percent year-on-year increase in flights.

According to the Urumqi Border Inspection Station of Xinjiang General Station of Entry-Exit Border Inspection, the number of exits and entries at Urumqi port has exceeded 603,900. The number of inbound and outbound flights stood at 6,427, up 144.5 percent year on year. Additionally, the number of foreign travelers entering and exiting through the Urumqi port reached 207,200, marking an increase of 130.6 percent.

With the continuous expansion of China's visa-free "circle of friends" and a series of policies to facilitate foreign tourists and businesspersons, the number of travelers at Urumqi port continues to rise.

"Now Georgia and China have a visa free [policy]. So Georgian people can visit China without needing to do the visa, so it gives us more free time and a better solution to visit China," said a tourist from Georgia.

"At present, 21 passenger routes from 16 countries or regions have been opened at Urumqi airport, with an average of 102 round-trip flights and 13,000 passengers per week," said Wang Shuaibin, deputy captain of the Urumqi Immigration Inspection Station.

Number of exit- entry exceeds 600,000 at Urumqi International Airport

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site 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 crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

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

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship