Chinese academician-led team helps Turkish doctors in TAVR with self-developed devices

A Chinese medical team from Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, led by academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences Wang Jian'an, on Tuesday worked with Turkish counterparts to conduct several transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgeries, featuring the use of China's self-developed devices.

Wang, who serves as the chair of the Heart Center at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, collaborated with Doctor Teoman Kilic, a famous Turkish interventional cardiologist, in the surgeries in Kocaeli University Hospital, one of the top medical institutions in Türkiye.

"Today we will work together to use a fantastic device made in China [which] is called VitaFlow device. Actually, it is quite good. It's the automatic releasing device, a self-expanding device, already serves so many people in China. Also, we hope it can serve our Turkish patients. Okay, we are looking for the very successful two procedures with Doctor Kilic," said Wang.

The patients in Wang's surgeries in Türkiye included a 91-year-old one suffering extremely severe aortic valve stenosis. Under the guidance of Wang, doctors transplanted artificial valves made in China to save the patient.

As Türkiye is an important partner of China in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the successful surgeries of Wang's team in the country is believed to be a high-level international exchange of medical techniques that deepened health cooperation between BRI participating countries.

For more than a decade, Wang's team has focused on unsolved problems, establishing a comprehensive research, development and clinic use system for homegrown medical devices, covering all kinds of heart valves, including the aortic valve, the mitral valve, and the tricuspid valves.

Wang's team has been well recognized worldwide, with its technology put into practice in 18 top medical institutions across 12 countries. The team has showed its surgeries with China's homegrown devices in top international cardiology conferences for nine consecutive years.

Chinese academician-led team helps Turkish doctors in TAVR with self-developed devices

More than a month ahead of the Chinese New Year, restaurants across China have reported a booming demand for reunion dinners, with popular places already fully reserved.

The family reunion dinners on the eve of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important meal of the year for Chinese people. It has long been an essential part of celebrating the Chinese New Year. This year, the festival falls on Feb 17.

In Taiyuan, capital city of north China's Shanxi Province, one restaurant said all tables for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner have been reserved.

"We now have 36 private rooms and 13 tables in the hall. The New Year's Eve dinner is fully booked. Many families started reserving as early as November 2025," said Han Huiyan, a restaurant manager.

To meet the demand, many restaurants start to offer takeaway banquet package that can be easily prepared at home, allowing families to enjoy a variety of festive dishes without dining out.

In Ningbo, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province, many popular restaurants said that they are approaching full reservation levels. To reduce peak demand, some restaurants now offer off-peak reunion dinners starting later at night.

"We now offer a 'second round' of New Year's Eve dinners, which start at 19:30. We also offer discount for such New Year's Eve dinners, a promotion of 20 percent off set menus," said Sun Lijuan, a restaurant manager.

In Lianyungang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, smaller private rooms of a local restaurant have been nearly sold out, and customized menus and home-delivery services have drawn strong interest.

"This year we have specially launched the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner delivery service. Bookings are very strong and customers really like this option," said Geng Maoran, a restaurant general manager.

Restaurants see surge in bookings for Chinese New Year's Eve dinners