2025 Confucius Cultural Festival opens in east China

The 2025 China International Confucius Cultural Festival opened on Saturday in Qufu City of east China's Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius.

During the opening ceremony, the 20th UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was awarded, with projects from Bangladesh, Ireland and Morocco recognized for their contributions to innovation in education.

Ceremony attendees were also treated to stage performances steeped in China's cultural heritage.

Themed "The Vision of Confucius: A World in Harmonious Coexistence," this year's festival will feature various events, including the grand ceremony to commemorate the 2,576th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and the promotion of study tour projects following the footsteps of Confucius.

As an educator and philosopher, ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 B.C.) founded a school of thought that profoundly influenced later generations and became known as Confucianism. He was also the first to establish private schools in China, which admitted students from all social classes.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.