The rebuilding of eight villages severely affected by the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region started on Monday, marking the start of recovery efforts aimed at relocating over 120,000 residents into new homes by the end of this year.
Following a month of extensive preparations, a launch ceremony was held in Gurum Village, Dingri County, Xigaze. The preparations included debris clearance, risk assessment, and the development of housing designs.
Feedback from residents was gathered and used to finalize the housing designs, ensuring they met the community's needs.
"Villagers hope that new homes are stronger, cleaner, and tidier than previous ones. And they also have a good expectation for the overall improvement of the village's environment," said Norbu, a supervisor of the village committee of Gurum.
On Jan 7, Dingri and its neighboring counties experienced a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that killed 126 people and leveled thousands of houses.
In the aftermath of the disaster, over 560 technical experts from nine organizations, including survey, mapping, and design firms, as well as government departments, conducted damage assessments and developed reconstruction plans that prioritized the needs and wishes of the local community.
According to reconstruction plans, all of the more than 120,000 people currently living in temporary shelters will move into new homes by the end of 2025.
Home building starts for quake-affected residents in China's Xizang
China's consumer goods industry got off to a good start in 2026, with main indicators registering steady growth in the first two months, according to the data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The value added of enterprises above the designated size -- whose annual main business income reaches 20 million yuan (about 2.93 million U.S. dollars) or more -- in this sector increased by 4.8 percent year on year in January and February, accounting for 29.2 percent of the total value added, 3.1 percentage points higher than that of last year. Among the 14 major industry categories, 10 achieved positive growth.
In the two months, these enterprises achieved a business revenue of approximately 5.1 trillion yuan, up 4.4 percent year on year, while the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 8.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percent.
"The first two months were in the traditional peak consumption season, driving the growth of orders and helping to unleash production capacity in the consumer goods industry. Some emerging consumption patterns, such as experience consumption and trendy toy consumption, grew rapidly, and the supply market showed a diversified growth trend," said Dai Xiaoxia, deputy director of the Institute of Consumer Goods Industry Research of China Center for Information Industry Development.
In terms of foreign trade, exporters above the designated size delivered consumer goods worth around 592.54 billion yuan, up 2.2 percent year on year, with the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, the papermaking and paper products industry registering relatively rapid growth.
China will increase the supply of high-quality products in the consumer goods industry, steadily promoting the intelligent, green and integrated development of the sector.
China's consumer goods industry posts steady growth in first 2 months
