A special exhibition commemorating the 620th anniversary of Chinese navigator Zheng He's voyages was opened on Friday in Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia.
The voyages, led by Zheng, also an ambassador in China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), brought silk, porcelain and tea to Indonesia, sowing seeds of friendship and trust between the two countries.
The exhibition, held at the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics in Jakarta, features ancient books, shipbuilding tools, navigation charts, archival footage, and rare footage about the voyages, systematically presenting the grand scenes of Zheng He's maritime expeditions, the prosperity of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, the cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Indonesia, and the new chapter of jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia, and the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference.
Held at this historic moment, the exhibition not only pays tribute to the long-standing exchanges between the two nations but also preserves and disseminates the concept of peaceful development, said Zhou Kan, an envoy of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, during the opening ceremony, adding that it reflects the shared aspiration of China and Indonesia to advance mutual learning between civilizations and deepen people-to-people exchanges in the new era.
Co-organized by the Chinese Association for International Understanding, the Chinese embassy in Indonesia, and the China Zheng He Research Association, the one-month exhibition is jointly hosted by the Shanghai Art Collection Museum, the China Maritime Museum and Jakarta's Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics.
Exhibition held in Indonesia to commemorate Chinese explorer Zheng He's epic voyages
Highlighting the "Future Energy" as a key direction for China's strategic emerging industries, the country's nuclear energy development, guided by its three-step strategy, has seen major strides in the past year, said a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
In a recent press briefing, Xin Feng, also deputy general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), updated the media on the progresses China has achieved under the strategy.
"China's three-step strategy for nuclear energy development -- from the thermal reactor to the fast reactor and the fusion reactor -- was formulated in 1983 as a medium- and long-term plan. For the thermal reactor, over the past year, our 2.0 version of the Hualong One technology has been approved. This is a unified and fully self-owned intellectual property based third-generation nuclear power technology solution. And the Linglong One small modular reactor also successfully completed its cold-state functional test last year and is expected to be put into commercial operation this year," he said.
For the second and third steps, Chinese researchers and engineers have achieved milestones in the past year with the government support, Xin noted.
"Then for the fast reactor, last year, a closed-cycle system for an integral fast reactor successfully achieved preliminary standard design. We will continue to solve its engineering technology challenges. As for the fusion reactor, in 2025, with national support, we established the China Fusion Energy Company in Shanghai. And our Huanliu-3, a platform for conducting research and development of fusion technology, made a big stride, with an iron temperature in it achieving 117 million Celsius and an electron temperature reaching 160 million Celsius. We will continue to adhere to the development strategy and focus on technological research and engineering technology development," Xin said.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC kicked off in Beijing on March 5 and March 4, respectively.
The "two sessions" -- which refer to the annual meetings of China's supreme organ of state power, the National People's Congress (NPC), and its top political advisory body, the National Committee of the CPPCC -- are a key event on the country's political calendar and offer a window into the country's development direction.
China's nuclear energy development makes great strides with three-step strategy: CPPCC member
