Century-old buildings in Shanghai, temporarily relocated in-whole to accommodate underground construction, have been laid back on their original site in an impressive feat of engineering involving over 400 carrying robots stepping in sync.
The buildings, weighing 7,500 tonnes and covering an area of 4,030 square meters, were originally built in the 1920s and 1930s in the Shikumen architectual style -- a distinctive fusion of Western elements with those of traditional Jiangnan-style residences from the southern region of the Yangtze River Delta.
For decades, they have stood in the city's Zhangyuan cultural and historical block as the best preserved and most diverse Shikumen building complex in Shanghai.
Efforts to move the building complex back into place began on May 19, with a total of 432 small crawler-type transporting robots moving the complex as a whole at an average speed of 10 meters per day.
To accommodate the construction of a ground-level roof for a 53,000-square-meter underground complex, the buildings at Zhangyuan had originally been moved away in whole due to their large number and density, which left no space for renovation and repairs.
Robots move historic Shikumen buildings back to original site in Shanghai
Banks in south China's Hainan Province has launched innovative multi-functional free trade accounts to enable free and efficient transfer of funds between domestic and overseas accounts, facilitating cross-border capital flow at the Hainan Free Trade Port.
By the end of November this year, 11 banks in Hainan had launched the service, processing transactions equivalent to 295 billion yuan (42 billion U.S. dollars) with entities in 80 countries and regions.
At Hainan's Yangpu Port, one paper manufacturer demands high efficiency in cross-border settlements for its global operations.
Zhao Wenlong, the company's chief financial officer, said the newly opened multi-functional free trade account provides one-stop services for cross-border fund settlements, foreign exchange, investment, and financing. The streamlined process -- free of additional reviews and supplementary documentation -- has significantly boosted capital flow efficiency.
"Its advantages are apparent as it only requires instructions for transactions. For businesses, it's just like direct domestic transfers, eliminating the need for prior approvals and other procedures. This significantly improves the efficiency of corporate fund utilization," said Zhao.
Beyond settlement convenience, the offshore exchange rate advantage of the account has delivered tangible financial benefits to enterprises. Zhao's company saved a significant amount in financial costs on a recent 23 million U.S. dollars foreign exchange settlement transaction thanks to this feature.
"We can choose between two accounts to conduct foreign exchange purchases and settlements with the more favorable exchange rate," said Zhao. The application scenarios for functional free trade accounts are rapidly expanding from basic settlement to complex financial services, becoming a powerful support for enterprises to expand into international markets.
"Starting with the initial simple function of cross-border fund transfers, we have introduced numerous business innovations this year, such as overseas USD financing combined with onshore RMB currency swaps. With the continuous utilization of our services and the integration of our business with the FTP policies, we will roll out more innovative measures to enable enterprises to reap greater benefits," said Li Peng, deputy head of the Hainan Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Bank innovations facilitate cross-border capital flow at Hainan FTP
