Lingao Lighthouse, located in China's southernmost island province of Hainan, was awarded the title of "Heritage Lighthouse of the Year 2025" by the International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA).
This marks the first time a Chinese lighthouse has received such international recognition since the establishment of this award in 2019, underscoring growing global acknowledgment of China's efforts in maritime heritage preservation.
Built in 1894, the 22-meter-tall lighthouse features a red-and-white striped cast-iron structure, making it the oldest modern lighthouse in Hainan.
Lingao Lighthouse is not only visually well-preserved but also plays an active role in the local community through its museum and educational programs - making it a model example of heritage lighthouse preservation and utilization, said Francis Zachariae, secretary-general of IALA.
"This lighthouse of the year, the Lingao lighthouse, is a fantastic example of how you combine an important Asian navigation with culture, history and also education of the generations to come. So they can see how important this system is for safety of navigation," he said.
Zachariae also praised China's consistent engagement in international lighthouse conservation through IALA. He highlighted China's active role in international collaboration, adding that Lingao Lighthouse, with its innovative educational models and exemplary conservation practices, provides valuable insights for the global community.
The award was presented during the IALA International Seminar on Heritage Lighthouse Conservation held in Haikou, provincial capital city of Hainan, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
China's Lingao Lighthouse honored as IALA's "Heritage Lighthouse of the Year 2025"
China aims to achieve secure and reliable supply of key core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by 2027, with its industrial scale and empowerment level remaining among the world's forefront, according to a recent government action plan.
The plan, jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines an ambitious push to deeply integrate AI with the manufacturing sector, foster new quality productive forces and comprehensively empower new industrialization. By 2027, the plan targets the deep application of three to five general-purpose large AI models in manufacturing, the development of specialized, full-coverage industry-specific large models, the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and the promotion of 500 typical application scenarios.
It also aims to cultivate two to three globally influential ecosystem-leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, and a group of enabling service providers proficient in both AI technology and industry know-how.
Furthermore, China plans to build a world-leading open-source ecosystem, enhance security governance capabilities, and contribute Chinese solutions to global AI development.
The document outlines measures including promoting the coordinated development of AI chips' hardware and software, supporting innovations in model training and inference methods, fostering key industry-specific large models, and deeply embedding large model technology into core production processes.
The plan also emphasizes making breakthroughs in key technologies such as security protection for industrial model algorithms and training data protection.
China aims for secure, reliable supply of AI core tech by 2027
